“On fire” and “sizzling” are terms being used to describe meat prices.

“Wholesale beef and pork prices this spring have seen incredible strength,” Canfax said in a market report earlier this month. “Except for last year when wholesale beef prices doubled due to a shortage of supplies, cut-out prices at current levels had not been seen before... and were certainly not expected in the face of record-large North American beef production.”

In the U.S., federal stimulus cheques are boosting incomes and more people are dining out as vaccination efforts pay off.

“People want to pay up for steaks,” said market analyst Ted Seifried of The Zaner Ag Hedge Group. “People want beef.”

Packers are doing very well but feeders are missing out on big profits because of the soaring cost of feed grains, the news agency said.