Soaring Beef Prices Won't Save Beyond Meat

• Beef prices person been rising, partially owed to a historically tiny cattle herd.

• This narrows the terms spread betwixt beef and plant-based alternatives.

• However, there's nary denotation that consumers are switching to plant-based meat.

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One of the large problems for Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND) and the plant-based nutrient manufacture successful wide is the premium consumers indispensable wage implicit modular beef. Beyond Meat's crushed beef equivalent costs astir $7 to $8 per lb astatine Walmart, and much astatine different retailers.

This pricing disadvantage was important successful the past, but it shrank dramatically successful 2025. The smallest U.S. cattle herd successful decades, combined with the interaction of cattle illness and tariffs, person led to soaring beef prices. Beef prices are up astir 15% implicit the past year.

Higher prices for beef could payment Beyond Meat, but it's improbable to beryllium capable to hole each the company's problems.

Standard nutrient acts mostly similar a commodity, and plant-based nutrient appears to travel suit. When you spell to the supermarket and bargain immoderate crushed beef, the marque doesn't substance each that much.

There's much country for differentiation successful the plant-based nutrient market, since producers tin usage antithetic ingredients and execute antithetic tastes and textures. Certainly, determination are consumers who person tried aggregate plant-based nutrient brands and developed a penchant for 1 successful particular. However, arsenic much contention has entered the market, Beyond Meat has struggled with terms deflation. The institution has been forced to driblet prices, a wide motion that it has nary pricing powerfulness whatsoever.

In the 3rd 4th of 2025, Beyond Meat reported a 10.3% diminution successful volumes, on with a 3.5% alteration successful gross per pound. Lower prices aren't boosting demand. The wide marketplace for plant-based nutrient successful the U.S. has been shrinking arsenic consumers propulsion away, but that's lone portion of the problem. An detonation of competition, including assorted store-brand options, has laid bare the weakness of Beyond Meat's brand.

The rising terms of beef could assistance the plant-based nutrient marketplace retrieve to immoderate extent, but it doesn't lick the occupation of Beyond Meat having nary pricing power.

The rising terms of beef is starting to alteration user behaviour and unit shoppers to opt for alternatives, but there's nary crushed to judge plant-based nutrient volition payment each that overmuch from this trend. By and large, consumers person been consenting to wage up for beef truthful far, and immoderate displacement has been toward chickenhearted alternatively than non-meat alternatives. Tyson precocious reported beardown request for chickenhearted arsenic the beef proviso struggles to support up with demand.