The Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS) has published its meat and poultry tracker for the month of September, finding that on average prices fell slightly across the month.
The tracker showed that prices fell by 0.57% over the course of September.
Tony Goodger, head of communications at AIMS, commented: “Whilst beef continues to drive the overall inflation figure the upward movement was just 0.65% throughout September whilst lamb also edged up slightly, 0.3%. Interestingly the average price for pork cuts surveyed fell by 1.5% and chicken cuts by 1.6%.”
AIMS found that apart from whole chicken and chicken legs, all prices across the chicken and pork categories were unchanged or fell during September.
Goodger continued: “It is important to remember that the price files for meat and poultry are based on UK supermarket pricing, which is always highly competitive in September as retailers look to try to drive customer loyalty into the last quarter of the year. Many supermarkets also use September to preview Christmas, and all have their Halloween and Bonfire Night ranges on sale.
“However, the 12 months to 30th September 2025 shows that meat and poultry inflation is at 16.4% with all categories increasing across the year.
“Once again it is beef with its tight supply and continued demand that leads the way, up 34.13% with both lean mince (+48.7%) and standard (+38%) showing large price hikes. What stood out to me was the large year on year increase in beef steak, which suggests that the retailers are managing to pull consumers away from the out-of-home market towards dining at home.
“Given the large numbers of households with air-fryers, which can reliably cook steak to the consumer’s taste, and the continued cost-of-living pressures on households, I am firmly of the view that the price for beef steak and other grilling lines are likely to continue to show above annual inflation levels for some time to come.”
“I expect continued supermarket price-led activity in the meat and poultry categories across the coming weeks.”
Tony Goodger, AIMS
Goodger encouraged consumers who were interested in switching price protein to look to pork, as the tracker showed that inflation had moved below 2%. Cuts such as belly slices and tenderloin were lower in price than they had been in September 2024.
Goodger concluded: “Looking ahead to October, colder days, clocks changing, family occasions such as Halloween and Bonfire Night, together with popular TV shows such as Strictly drawing in large audiences, are all likely to keep consumers dining at home and possibly treating themselves to the types of meals that they would traditionally have eaten out of the home, meaning that I expect continued supermarket price-led activity in the meat and poultry categories across the coming weeks.”
