Evening star., 1953-01-30
Beef Prices Decline
In Some Chain Stores;
Roasts Dip 3-1OCents

Beef prices took another sharp
drop in some large chain stores
today. as meat plunged back
within reach of the average
housewives purse.
The A8P Food Stores ad-
vertised 10 cents a pound slashes
today on rib roast and dropped
the price of chuck roast 3 cents.
This drop came overnight.
The food chain dramatized the
lower meat prices in it's ads
yesterday by comparing prices
with those Of a year ago.
The 7-inch cut of rib roast
was 83 cents pound a year ago
and was IS cents yesterday. To-
day it can be bought at IS cents
a pound. The 10-inch cut was
70 cents a year ago. SO cents
yesterday and So cents today.
Chuck Roast Prices.
Chuck roast, the chain said,
was selling for 73 cents a pound
last year. Yesterday it was 60
ing at Al cents a pound, and
today's price was 80 cents.
Those three items were the
only ones the A81P cut over
night.
Food Fair stores overnight re-
duced prices on chuck roasts.
The choice grade dropped from
AZ cents a pound to 43. Good
grade dropped from 43 to Al.
= A Safeway Stores official said
that chain had no plans for fur
ther price cuts today.
Slight Cuts Possible.
A spokesman for another chain
store said the prices may fall a
few cents more within the next
few days. But he thought the
bottom had been nearly reached.
A spokesman for a wholesale
meat packing firm said it is i'm
possible to tell how much more
prices would drop. He said meat
prices have been falling off since
the first of the year. with a pro-
nounced drop in the last 10 days.
Most people in the industry
are mystified," he declared. 1.-THE
drop is out of proportion to the
plentiful supply of beef"
A spokesman for the ALP
chain commented, "The market
is breaking"
He said all he knew was that
it was costing them less to buy
meat and they were passing the
saving on to the consumer. He
added that nobody knew how
low meat prices would go.
Cattle Prices Declining.
Meat experts said the con-
sumner price slashes were closely
related to cattle prices, which
have been dropping steadily
since last summer. The severe
drought was an important factor
in the price drop.
Cattlemen have complained
that consumer prices haven't
been dropping as much as those
for livestock. The current
slashes apparently are a late
reaction of the consumer price
level, which always resists reduc-
tions, an Agriculture Department
expert said. ri ''.
Abnormally large numbers of
cattle have been coming to mar
ket in recent months, a ref1ec-
tion Of a big increase in the size
of herds over the last four years,
the expert pointed out.1 u
Some observers tl1eorized that
the new consumer cuts might
have been influenced by pub
licity about pending investiga-
tions by Congress into the beef
price situation.
SirlOin Steak at 80 Cents.
Giant Food Stores yesterday
had sirloin steak on sale at SO
cents a pound; rib end pork
roasts, 20 cents d pound, and
loin end pork roast, 80 cents.
SafeWay Stores advertised
round steak for 80 cents: pot
roast, blade bone in. 43 cents;
sirloin steak, SO cents: 7-inch
rib roast. SO cents, and ground
beef. 43 cents.
The fluid state Of the meat
industry was illustrated by the
price variations on the various
meat cuts being sold In the
stores. The price Of sirloin steak
for instance. varied from SO cents
a pound in one chain to SO cents
a pound in another.
Eisenhower Aide Sfudvinn