Local Stockton meat markets hit by high beef prices, lower demand
Beef prices are now up to more than $9 a pound, going up almost 9% since the start of the year. Numbers show steak and ground beef prices up about 12% and 10% over the last year.
Local Stockton meat markets are feeling the pressure from these all-time high prices, forcing some local shops to try and break even.
Acambaro Meat Market has been in the same place in Stockton for 20 years. Owned by Francisco Ortega, he said this year, however, has been the most difficult.
"We're selling about half of what we used to sell in the past," Ortega said. "We need to up our prices because they upped the price for us."
Demand for beef is always high at his store.
"If they buy 50 to 60 pounds, we give them the same price we get from the supplier. We only get about 10%. It's not a lot, but we need to work," he said.
Lately, supply has been harder to find. He supplies not only his customers, but also taco stands and trucks that roam all over Stockton.
"The price of the tacos are now $4, quesadillas are $10. What are we going to do with burritos being $10," he said.
"About $4 a taco, $4.50," said Cristina Salinas, who has also seen the rising taco prices.
It's forced her, as a mother of two, to find cheaper alternatives.
"I'm making tacos at home, and I'm making chicken tacos," she said. "It makes you appreciate it even more, when you get to eat tacos, and order at the taco trucks."
"I think this one in particular is driven by demand and supply," said Dr. Sanjay Varshney.
Professor Varshney from Sacramento State University said the record-high price isn't surprising.
He said finding those alternatives like Salinas could bring demand down and therefore prices, but in the meantime, it could sear your next grocery list.
"It just throws a bigger wrench into people's ability to simply survive and put food on the table," he said.
Varshney said these beef prices are not impacted by tariffs. A lot of the beef we buy is grown in the U.S.
One word of caution, he said, is that these prices won't go back to pre-pandemic levels. Those prices, he thinks, are here to stay.
