Data from the October meat and poultry inflation report has found that beef prices were the only category to not increase.
The report from the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS) found that 18 of the 30 lines surveyed saw a rise in price per kg across the month, with the October figures suggesting that last month’s flat line could have been a post-summer pause before a return to the trend of month-on-month increases.
Five of the surveyed lines remained unchanged, AIMS observed, while seven fell in price. Beef roasting joints were down £0.37kg (2.18%) and pork legs were down by £0.72kg (14.49kg), showing the sharpest drops.
Tony Goodger, head of communications at AIMS, commented: “This might be due to their cooking times and thus greater energy usage in preparing the dishes. Add to this Sunday lunch out-of-home appears to be increasing again in popularity with research in the summer by Tastewise showing an 11.6% increase compared to 12 months ago, with some of the websites I visited showing some very keen price points being seen across both pub chains and independent outlets.”
When looking at year-on-year data, beef had continued to fall by £0.62kg (3.1%) from its 2025 prices, while pork was down £0.05kg (0.72%) across the steak and shoulder cuts. AIMS attributed this to an oversupply in the market.
Chicken legs were up 1.01% on the month and 6.69% on the year, with Goodger stating: “Chicken legs continue to be a great value purchase for the shopping basket however, after almost a year of them remaining either as unchanged or, as seen in a few months, slightly lower in price, they now appear to be a line where supermarkets feel that price increases can be comfortably achieved.”
Lamb was up £0.25kg (1.43%) on the month and £0.88kg (5.24%) over the year.
Goodger added: “November will set off with a bang with bonfire night but then consumers are likely to start to focus their attention on Christmas food, which will almost certainly include a second roasting joint being served alongside turkey during the holiday period, however these joints are almost always very keenly priced so I am expecting to see beef, lamb and pork joints falling as we get towards the end of the month.”
