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Surf and turf: consumer prices for meat, poultry, and fish and seafood, January 2003-September 2013

November 06, 2013

Over the last decade, consumer prices for beef and veal have increased more rapidly than prices for pork, poultry, fish and seafood, and for any other meat-related item. At its most recent peak in July 2013, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for beef and veal reflected a price increase of over 67 percent since January 2003.

Chart Image
Chart Data

Consumer Price Indexes for meats, poultry, and fish and seafood, not seasonally adjusted, January 2003—September 2013 (Index: January 2003 = 100)
Month	Meats			Poultry	Fish and seafood
Month	Beef and veal	Pork	Other meats	Poultry	Fish and seafood
January 2003	100.000	100.000	100.000	100.000	100.000
February 2003	103.286	101.252	101.820	101.088	100.852
March 2003	104.526	100.501	101.381	101.330	99.468
April 2003	104.836	99.812	103.327	101.693	99.734
May 2003	104.340	101.001	102.072	100.302	100.958
June 2003	105.580	103.442	103.327	101.391	101.810
July 2003	106.510	104.443	104.143	102.116	100.905
August 2003	107.192	104.506	106.152	102.177	102.130
September 2003	108.803	106.258	105.085	102.600	101.704
October 2003	112.895	106.446	105.964	104.293	101.438
November 2003	121.265	105.507	108.349	104.293	102.503
December 2003	123.311	104.819	109.102	105.441	102.503
January 2004	120.397	105.382	108.161	105.502	103.355
February 2004	119.963	104.944	108.914	105.260	102.875
March 2004	117.855	106.008	108.286	107.497	101.491
April 2004	118.661	104.631	108.600	107.678	102.662
May 2004	120.893	107.697	108.098	109.794	103.248
June 2004	122.443	109.950	107.156	110.399	102.982
July 2004	122.939	111.702	108.161	111.790	104.153
August 2004	122.381	112.203	108.537	112.938	103.355
September 2004	122.071	112.891	108.788	112.696	103.887
October 2004	121.265	112.140	109.102	112.999	104.260
November 2004	121.947	111.014	109.918	110.883	104.633
December 2004	122.195	109.762	112.304	110.822	104.846
January 2005	122.257	111.139	110.986	111.125	106.177
February 2005	124.117	111.577	110.169	110.036	104.846
March 2005	124.985	110.763	110.609	111.850	104.473
April 2005	124.985	111.952	110.734	111.306	106.177
May 2005	126.906	110.763	110.734	111.064	105.751
June 2005	126.534	111.890	110.107	111.790	106.230
July 2005	123.931	111.765	111.676	112.394	106.337
August 2005	123.311	111.452	111.613	112.999	106.709
September 2005	122.691	111.765	111.927	114.208	106.709
October 2005	123.001	111.202	111.425	112.757	107.561
November 2005	123.435	110.763	113.497	113.422	108.679
December 2005	124.923	109.637	113.245	111.125	108.839
January 2006	125.728	109.262	112.241	109.734	109.851
February 2006	125.790	109.637	112.492	109.674	109.744
March 2006	126.472	109.700	112.053	110.097	109.265
April 2006	125.852	109.825	112.680	109.129	109.904
May 2006	124.737	109.825	112.367	108.888	110.809
June 2006	124.179	110.826	113.183	110.278	111.928
July 2006	123.311	112.015	112.680	109.371	111.129
August 2006	124.985	112.641	111.927	111.125	113.046
September 2006	124.675	113.267	114.375	111.185	113.791
October 2006	125.480	113.016	114.752	110.580	113.791
November 2006	126.348	110.889	116.761	109.915	112.780
December 2006	125.604	110.388	115.505	110.339	112.673
January 2007	125.957	110.806	117.431	109.920	114.293
February 2007	127.580	110.218	113.940	110.770	114.700
March 2007	129.405	112.145	115.969	112.429	114.438
April 2007	131.784	110.626	115.546	114.167	116.241
May 2007	131.952	114.160	115.920	115.132	117.514
June 2007	132.172	116.122	116.411	117.563	117.814
July 2007	131.220	115.762	114.740	117.862	116.763
August 2007	131.330	114.986	115.416	118.136	117.086
September 2007	132.633	114.110	114.439	119.141	116.947
October 2007	131.734	114.631	116.751	118.261	118.277
November 2007	132.490	113.074	118.157	117.669	117.825
December 2007	131.933	111.901	117.539	117.290	118.015
January 2008	131.910	112.747	117.561	119.061	119.025
February 2008	132.598	111.121	117.599	118.382	119.106
March 2008	133.432	110.244	118.046	118.532	118.317
April 2008	131.917	112.989	118.453	119.378	121.434
May 2008	133.867	113.462	116.240	120.358	122.514
June 2008	136.100	115.464	115.606	120.812	123.764
July 2008	137.236	117.389	117.578	122.015	124.386
August 2008	140.492	118.842	118.751	123.062	126.097
September 2008	140.760	120.576	122.169	123.982	126.880
October 2008	142.201	120.123	124.525	123.603	127.760
November 2008	140.428	118.934	124.809	124.305	126.791
December 2008	140.123	117.596	124.354	124.076	127.135
January 2009	138.269	117.180	125.565	123.884	128.373
February 2009	139.372	115.974	125.338	123.657	127.591
March 2009	137.400	115.927	124.375	124.044	127.327
April 2009	136.759	113.877	123.308	125.126	127.806
May 2009	136.064	114.763	119.926	124.085	129.033
June 2009	135.637	114.604	120.441	125.130	129.584
July 2009	132.464	114.713	120.148	122.834	129.900
August 2009	133.921	113.583	121.324	123.958	128.872
September 2009	133.435	112.733	121.449	122.740	128.083
October 2009	132.723	111.220	123.222	121.946	126.136
November 2009	134.250	109.002	121.772	122.021	127.308
December 2009	133.556	108.372	121.312	122.224	127.088
January 2010	132.157	111.304	122.110	121.478	128.964
February 2010	133.372	113.401	119.317	122.178	126.667
March 2010	134.746	113.581	120.454	121.919	125.840
April 2010	138.486	114.112	120.749	122.888	128.103
May 2010	140.141	117.466	119.524	122.443	128.558
June 2010	141.661	119.729	121.355	123.337	129.909
July 2010	141.401	121.644	121.543	124.015	130.579
August 2010	140.554	122.205	122.510	123.150	129.511
September 2010	141.019	124.042	123.063	124.409	130.176
October 2010	142.366	125.419	124.673	125.741	130.767
November 2010	142.604	123.068	125.967	124.569	132.661
December 2010	141.756	120.493	126.056	123.765	132.441
January 2011	144.958	122.346	126.363	124.064	133.722
February 2011	147.727	123.519	126.756	124.660	134.619
March 2011	151.172	126.339	127.088	124.615	135.488
April 2011	152.932	125.979	129.886	125.722	136.579
May 2011	154.493	129.215	129.290	126.704	139.599
June 2011	153.336	129.901	128.830	127.083	140.572
July 2011	154.598	130.546	130.293	127.394	140.856
August 2011	155.224	131.426	131.913	127.293	140.243
September 2011	155.263	133.368	130.977	128.128	140.739
October 2011	156.061	132.806	132.507	129.247	140.096
November 2011	156.612	131.603	133.217	128.366	140.512
December 2011	157.998	130.283	134.536	129.694	141.471
January 2012	159.794	130.053	133.197	130.458	142.010
February 2012	160.131	129.679	133.335	130.984	139.989
March 2012	161.433	130.605	134.280	132.774	140.773
April 2012	161.889	129.820	133.053	133.423	142.739
May 2012	162.895	128.788	132.098	131.592	142.197
June 2012	163.885	128.671	131.820	133.568	142.837
July 2012	164.853	129.190	130.767	135.172	143.120
August 2012	164.191	131.210	131.693	134.475	142.130
September 2012	163.683	129.756	130.878	134.332	142.544
October 2012	164.569	129.994	132.101	136.316	142.049
November 2012	164.686	127.824	132.319	136.027	142.099
December 2012	165.252	125.942	132.872	137.027	141.360
January 2013	164.980	126.730	131.576	137.813	142.530
February 2013	165.636	127.753	133.121	137.535	140.715
March 2013	165.748	128.579	132.213	137.996	141.680
April 2013	164.883	127.768	132.778	138.964	145.950
May 2013	165.640	128.506	131.102	138.901	144.614
June 2013	166.233	129.421	131.729	140.868	145.081
July 2013	167.071	131.638	130.398	139.943	145.632
August 2013	166.886	133.444	131.569	141.872	146.407
September 2013	166.394	133.948	132.804	142.310	147.603

Prices for both poultry and fish and seafood reached their most recent peak in September 2013. The CPI for fish and seafood was 48 percent higher in September 2013 than in January 2003. By comparison, the CPI for poultry increased 42 percent over that same period.

Pork prices reached their most recent peak in September 2013—representing a 34 percent increase since January 2003. Prices for pork experienced a steady decline from September 2011 to December 2012. As of September 2013, prices have returned to the peak of September 2011.

These data are from the BLS Consumer Price Index program and are not seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see "Consumer Price Index — September 2013" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL‑13‑2076.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Surf and turf: consumer prices for meat, poultry, and fish and seafood, January 2003-September 2013 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2013/ted_20131106.htm (visited March 04, 2026).

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