Retail meat sales set new records in December 2024Retail meat sales set new records in December 2024

Meat department drives household shopping trips, with meat purchased more than once a week on average.

Nevil Speer

January 15, 2025

1 Min Read
Retail Meat Sales Summary main image of meat and poultry case in grocery store

Retail meat highlights for the month:

  • New records for meat department dollars and pounds were set in 2024.

  • 2024 ended up being a strong year for grocery retailers, with total food and beverage sales of $922 billion. Sales rose 3.0% in dollars and 1.3% in units. Everyday demand was strong due to purchasing restaurant food less often while cooking more in an effort to save money. Holidays and special occasions remained a time when consumers splurged a bit more, prompting new records for many of the big national holidays.

  • The average price per pound in the meat department across all cuts and kinds, both fixed and random weight, stood at $4.63 in December 2024, up 4.2% year-on-year. Processed meat prices rose the least in December, up 2.4%.

  • The meat department enjoys very high household penetration, with more than 98% purchasing meat at least once a year. Importantly, the meat department drove far more trips in 2024, converting on the additional total store trips. Averaging 54 trips per year, meat was purchased more than once a week – the highest number in many years.

  • In calendar year 2024, dollar sales gained 5.3%. This increase reflects a combination of mild price increases and pound gains of 2.3%. Importantly, pound sales are also easily ahead of two years ago, at +1.9%.

Related:Dairy markets look mixed for 2025

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About the Author

Nevil Speer

Nevil Speer works as an industry consultant based in Bowling Green, Kentucky.   He has experience in both academia and private industry.  His career includes working with several start-ups along with various service and consultation projects spanning a wide variety of topics.  

Dr. Speer holds a PhD in Animal Sciences from Colorado State University and an MBA from Western Kentucky University.

You can contact him at [email protected] 

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