Now premium quality beef costs more than foie gras
UK - The traditional British roast beef dinner is at risk of becoming a luxury experience.
27 September 2006
1 minute read
Prices of UK beef on the wholesale market have rocketed and leading chefs are now having to pay more for prime fillet, sirloin and rump steaks than for foie gras. Suppliers to top hotels and restaurants are charging from £31 to £35 a kilogram for premium British beef, while a kilogram of finest foie gras from southwest France is £27 to £28. A year ago top quality beef cost £21 to £25 a kilogram.
Nigel Fredericks, who supplies top London hotels and chefs including Gordon Ramsay, said: “Our buyer this week ordered 800 fillets from a long-standing supplier and he was told he could only have 70. A crisis is looming and chefs will have to think seriously about taking prime cuts off the menu or putting up prices.”
The market is so intense, with demand outstripping supply, that supermarkets expect to increase prices for prime cuts of beef in coming weeks.
So far the high prices appear to be affecting the top end of the catering market, but meat industry experts predict that beef prices on the high street face sharp increases this autumn.
Source: timesonline.co.uk
