Memorial Day 2024: Why are barbecue products so expensive?
Inflation may have slowed down but your Memorial Day cookout is going to cost you around 10% more in 2024 than last year. Here’s why that is.
Memorial Day honors the men and women of the United States Armed Forces who gave the ultimate sacrifice in service to the nation. Besides taking in one of the many parades around the nation many Americans will be getting together for a cookout over the holiday weekend.
This year, over half of Americans said they plan to have a barbecue over the Memorial Day weekend according to WalletHub. The personal finance company says that Americans will shell out $30 for the average cookout this year, that 10% more than in 2023.
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Memorial Day 2024: Why are barbecue products so expensive?
While overall inflation has been slowing down from the steep increases that peaked at 9.1% in the summer of 2022, it is still over the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%. Consumers have seen some items actually begin to fall, but some key ingredients for your Memorial Day barbecue are still experiencing price hikes.
Americans will spend around $1.3 billion on meat for Memorial Day to cook on the grill. Beef prices are up almost 15% reports CBS News based on information from Datasembly, which collects price changes from over 150,000 stores across the US. Other staples for you cookout such as hot dogs, buns, ketchup, mustard and relish are also more expensive this year than last.
The increased costs are the result of ongoing problems from supply chain disruptions and labor shortages to droughts and the avian flu. The Biden administration is working to rein in rising prices like easing the price of fertilizers and improve capacity in the meat and poultry industry. As well it has been attempting to increase competition through its antitrust agenda.
However, other factors are out of their control. Like consumer demand which spiked during the pandemic and has kept up despite the higher prices helping to keep them elevated and in some cases drive them even higher.