The AIMS meat and poultry inflation tracker for August 2025 shows that while overall prices across the month rose by just 0.25% it was chicken, up 2.24%, no doubt driven by the hot weather and holidays, that showed the biggest increases.
“Looking at the chicken category as a whole it appears that consumers have moved to convenience this month with diced breast rising 4.8%, no doubt the barbecue driving demand,” said Tony Goodger, head of communications at AIMS “Thigh fillets (+2.26%) and drumsticks (+2.67%) are also both popular for barbecues and picnics.
“Add to this increased input costs for the poultry sector from feed, staff, energy and the ever rising costs of security against hostile actors in this sector and it is little wonder that production and processing costs will have contributed along the supply chain.
“Beef showed an overall 0.4% increase across the month with the price of roasting joints falling 4.5%, possibly as a result of supermarkets cutting prices to attract purchase as consumers have switched from a roast to lighter meals”, he continued. “The same is probably also true for Lamb legs which fell by 2.14% however pork leg did buck the trend with a neat 4% increase. However, with beef and lamb roasting joints both costing in excess of £15.00kg, pork leg’s value for money at under £6.50kg could have encourages switching for the weekend roast”.
However, the 12 months inflation figures show across the board increases.
“The AIMS report places red meat and chicken inflation at 15.6% across the last year.
“Once again this is driven by beef which is up by £4.95kg (+32.9%) and now nudges almost £20.00kg across the cuts analysed. In particular mince, both lean (+48.4%) and standard (+37.0%) continue to show no sign of slowing down” said Tony, whilst the prices for beef steaks also remain very bullish (apologies for the pun!) up 27% on the year.
“Many market commentators, in particular colleagues at AHDB, have suggested that consumers may be looking to switch to pork and chicken.
“Chicken in particular, despite rising in price by 12.05% in the year, is very much the challenger protein to the red meats and fish not just in terms of consumer perceptions of versatility and value for money coupled with quick cooking time which uses less power continues for many households to make it a cost of living crisis protein of choice.
“There are so many factors that are driving year-on-year meat and poultry inflation that the government must consider before the October budget if they wish to get overall food inflation under control”.