This Week in Retail: Steak Features See Boost from Warmer Weather; Eyeing HPAI

Sunday marked the official start of spring. For retailers, that means grilling season is rapidly approaching, and with it—the opportunity for increased meat sales.

Steak features surged this week, accounting for 50.5 percent of total beef ads—up 16 percentage points from the week prior. Feature volume for roasts, meanwhile, has decreased, falling from 38.2 percent last week to 23.2 percent this week.

This week in retail, the steak complex averages $8.12 per pound, up 12.8 percent from a year ago. Boneless strip steaks are widely featured at grocery outlets across the nation and average $11.68 per pound, up 36 percent from a year ago. Top sirloin steaks are up 3.3 percent YoY at $5.64 per pound while bottom round steaks clock in at $5.54 per pound, up a whopping 68.4 percent from this week last year...

USAPEEC: Latest Update On the South Korea HPAI Egg Situation

Since the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) broke out, the consumer price of the egg has been soaring. However, at some point, the egg price is expected to fall from mid-year 2021. According to the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT), on June 11th, the domestic price of an egg tray, which is formed of 30 shell eggs, rose 46 percent to 7,557 KRW (6.69 USD), from 5,179 KRW (4.59 USD) the average year.

The HPAI has died down, but the price has not yet come down with it. With the prolongation of COVID-19, consumers tend to stay indoors and avoid eating out. The change in consumer behavior caused an increase in the demand for the egg. According to the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI), the average purchase of eggs per household in the first quarter of 2021 was...