Beef prices expected to climb over the next 2 years

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — The smallest cattle herd since the 1950s likely will mean higher beef prices at the supermarket for the next two years.

Experts said beef prices could climb as much as 10 percent a year in 2012 and 2013, and the increase could be even greater if demand from other countries increases.

Those higher prices would follow steady increases that have seen the average retail cost of a pound of hamburger rise 23 percent, from $2.38 in December 2010 to $2.92 last December, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Last month the USDA reported the U.S. herd had declined to 90.8 million cattle, 2 percent less than the previous year and the lowest inventory since 1952, when there were 88.1 million.

"We're producing less beef so prices are going to go up," Texas AgriLife Extension Service livestock economist David Anderson said.