Wholesale Meat Prices: Boxed Beef, Pork and Lamb

What grocery stores, butchers and restaurants pay for the boxed cut, from USDA’s daily negotiated trades: 38 beef, pork and lamb cuts by IMPS item code, each with last week, last year and its 12-month trend, with beef in USDA Choice, Select or Prime. Pick a week from the last year or download the table as a CSV. For what you pay at the store, region by region, see grocery meat prices this week.

How to read these numbers

Each price is the pound-weighted average of USDA-reported negotiated sales over the last five trading days, converted from dollars per hundredweight to dollars per pound. Beef is USDA Choice by default, identified by IMPS item number; the grade buttons switch it to Select or Prime. Prime comes from USDA’s weekly Prime report, so a Prime price covers the week before the report and fewer cuts have one. Pork and lamb are the matching boxed cuts and have no USDA grade. “vs last week” and “vs last year” compare the same item over the same five-day window, and pounds traded show how much meat the price rests on.

Questions about wholesale meat prices

What are wholesale meat prices?

The prices packers get for boxed cuts at the plant: what grocery stores, butchers, distributors and restaurants pay before the meat is cut, packaged and put in a case. USDA collects them from packers every trading day under Livestock Mandatory Reporting.

Where do these numbers come from?

USDA Agricultural Marketing Service reports: the National Daily Boxed Beef Cutout and Boxed Beef Cuts (LM_XB403, Choice and Select), the National Weekly Boxed Beef Cuts for Prime Product (LM_XB456), the National Daily Pork FOB Plant report (LM_PK602) and the National 5-Day Rolling Average Boxed Lamb Cuts (LM_XL500), negotiated sales. The page pulls them twice a day.

Are wholesale meat prices different by region?

Not in these reports. They are national prices at the packing plant (FOB plant), before freight. Regional differences show up in what it costs to ship the meat and in the distributor’s margin, which USDA does not report. For regional prices at the store, see the grocery page.

Why is the grocery price higher than wholesale?

The two are not the same product at the same point. The shelf price also pays for freight, cutting and trimming the boxed cut into retail pieces, packaging, labor, shrink (what does not sell) and the store’s margin. Comparing them shows the size of that gap, not a markup on identical meat.

What does an IMPS number like IMPS 120 mean?

IMPS is USDA’s Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications, the standard item numbers buyers use so a cut is trimmed the same way every time. IMPS 120 is a boneless brisket with the deckle off; 112A is a boneless ribeye roll; 189A is a trimmed tenderloin.

Can I buy meat at these prices?

Not directly. These are plant prices for boxes and truckloads. Restaurant suppliers, warehouse clubs and some butchers sell boxed cuts close to them, but a supplier quotes above wholesale for their margin, the trim spec and delivery. The catering calculator can fill your costs from these USDA prices and add your markup.

How much more does Prime cost than Choice?

It depends on the cut. The middle meats carry the biggest premium: Prime strip loin and ribeye often run several dollars a pound over Choice, while Prime brisket runs about a dollar or more over Choice and chuck roll only a little. Select runs well under Choice on ribeye, strip and tenderloin, where marbling sets the price. On brisket, chuck and round cuts the grade matters little, and because Select trades in much smaller lots it can land at or a few cents over Choice in a given week. Use the grade buttons above the table to see this week’s numbers side by side.

Why is the beef USDA Choice by default?

Choice is the grade most restaurants, caterers and grocery stores buy, and USDA reports the most trades for it, so its prices are the steadiest. Select trades thinner, so some cuts skip a week, and USDA reports Prime once a week for fewer cuts.