In this weekly Commodities Watch column, John T. Barone, president and commodities analyst for Market Vision Inc., offers a snapshot of the state of commodities for restaurants.
Now that Labor Day is behind us, middle meat and ground beef prices will trend seasonally lower. Two exceptions will be rib-eye and tenderloin, popular end-of-year holiday items. The price for 112A boneless heavy choice rib-eye, which dipped to $5.76 midsummer, has rebounded to $6.75 — 19 percent higher than a year ago. But look for a September correction to about $6.30 for a buying opportunity.
Despite this year’s early price run-up, 2012 fall highs will not eclipse Nov 2011’s high of $7.62. Select 112A rib-eyes at $5.57 should drop to $5.20 this month before recovering to near $6 for November and December.
The price for 189A choice tenderloin jumped from $8.56 to $9.73 over the past six weeks. A small dip to $9.50 in September will be followed by a run-up to last year’s high of $10.80 or better in December. Select 189A tenderloin at $9.10 may dip to $8.70 in September before recovering to back above $9 in Nov.
Contact John T. Barone at jbarone@mktvsn.com.
