Alberta is a major beef producer for Canada, but high prices are opening the market for international competitors.
Grocery stores in Canada have begun selling Australian beef, among other countries — sometimes at a lower price than locally grown beef.
Some prices found at stores across Alberta recently show prices with a more than $40 difference per kilogram, compared similar cuts of domestic beef.
“It may seem extreme and unfair to our cattle producers, but really, the supply chain economics are actually in favour of Australia and New Zealand,” said Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
He says some parts of the country have seen a price increase on local ground beef go up 18 per cent — in July alone.
“Ground beef is the cheapest bovine protein source we have access to and it is really the bulk of beef sales in Canada,” he said.
For some southern Alberta consumers — where beef production and its related agriculture are major industries — it’s hard to pass on lower-cost meats.
“With such a significant price difference, there’s no way my wife and I would buy the Canadian option if there’s Australian beef that’s less than half the price,” said Brad Pace.
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The higher Canadian price is not out of the blue, though, according to Charlebois.
The colder climate in Canada causes higher feeding and housing costs for producers, he said. Paired with cheap shipping costs for countries in Oceania to reach our shores, it’s no surprise.
“Inventories are much lower than a few years ago, which is putting pressure on beef prices at retail, essentially,” said Charlebois.
Alberta Beef Producers finance chair Brenda Rosadiuk told Global News in a statement that inventory challenges could be improving, however.
“Statistics Canada’s January cattle inventory numbers showed early indications of growth. Supportive prices at the auction and good weather can encourage producers to grow their herds,” Rosadiuk said.
But it can’t happen overnight.
“That said, it takes time for farm-level shifts in production to impact supply at the grocery store.”
Rosadiuk said it’s a challenging time right now for Alberta producers, as some have reduced their herd head count in recent years.
“Canadian beef is in a period of tight supplies and strong global demand, which is contributing to higher beef prices at the grocery store,” said Rosadiuk.
As a result, she says it’s difficult to save money at the checkout.
“Consumers need to make choices that work for them, and that’s especially challenging right now when food costs are high.”
But she says smart cooking can go a long way to helping consumers.
“Canada Beef has some great resources and recipes to help people get the most value from a variety of cuts.”
Higher prices aren’t only affecting beef, however. The entire ‘trifecta of meat’ is facing hikes, according to Charlebois.
“Chicken actually has rallied. We’ve seen prices go up 20 per cent since March. Pork is up 20 per cent since June. That’s all because of beef.”
“”The beef situation is really impacting the entire meat counter.”
Loblaw, one of Canada’s largest grocers behind brands such as Superstore, Shoppers Drug Mart, Extra Foods and No Frills, said it’s selling Australian beef at lower prices to keep meat affordable for Canadians.
“We source beef from a variety of Canadian and international suppliers to ensure customers have access to quality products at competitive prices. Retail prices can vary based on a number of factors, including market conditions, supplier costs and available supply,” the corporation said in a statement to Global News.
However, some Albertans say they’d still rather spend more to support local farmers.
“I still believe Albertan beef is higher quality. So, I’d still lean more toward Albertan beef, even with the insane prices that we have,” said resident Daniel Cockburn.
Charlebois says ongoing competition could, in the long term, be good for Canadian consumers, though he added prices are still uncertain in parts of the country.
Competition is good for consumers!
They have destroyed Canadian beef.Im buying less and less of it because I cant stand it.If I find a way to never buy Canadian beef again.Including possible raising my own I will do that.
i would save up and pay double for a good cut of canadian beef.
In my experience, half a dozen occasions or so, Australian beef is an utter disappointent. A canadian AAA round steak is lukely going to be better than an Aussie ungraded rib or T-bone.
I dont think high canadian beef price can be justified through simple scapegoating of shipping costs and input costs. There are reasons why those inputs are so expensive.
It’s that expensive Canadian grass.
That’s the problem.
Bring it on! We need the competition.
I mean, why not. What’s the alternative 🤔 lower the taxes in Canada.. that’ll be a hard pass for our current government. They’ll just keep the taxes high and get cheaper stuff from other countries. Its a win win for them and a lose lose for Canadians. Elbows up!
I have an old pair of work boots around here somewhere that would probably be easier to chew than Aussie beef.
So chicken and pork prices are up because people have switched to those due to the high cost of beef! So not because chicken and pork cost more to raise but they can raise their prices solely because demand is higher so they want to gouge people equally there!?
Mick Gordon
August 5, 2026 at 9:28 pm
There is nothing unfair about it, its a free market and we are getting gouged so here comes the re-balance.
Let me guess its all the farmers fault? Not the industrial carbon tax that has raised our prices on goods and services 10 fold.
Elbows up! or is it Canada Makes America Great Again?
Bad enough we don’t use are oil, or minerals, now beef, we are sliding down a slippery slope.
But God help you if you try to import cheap dairy into this country.
How can you explain that the Australian meat is cheaper than Canadian meat here in Canada?
That is a non sense situacion
Difference in weight?!?!?
How bout chinasteaks, ground up chicken beaks compressed into what looks like steak
so they freeze the beef from Australia and put it on a boat and ship it to Canada which is 10,000 mile away then thaw it and call it fresh…2 weeks to get beef here from Australia 🤣🤣
There is nothing unfair about it, its a free market and we are getting gouged so here comes the re-balance.
Australia beef for grocery chain here in Canada is bollocks… Absolute FAIL!!! We did a lot better before…Middle class and the less privileged will continue to eat catcher mitts…CANADA is in BIG trouble…We gotta wake up and run our country again…Damn!!🤔🧐
Australian beef is so gross and disgusting I threw it all in the garbage. Will never waste my money again.
Alberta beef “high quality beef “not for Alberta resident this beef is for outside.Alberta resident eating very poor quality beef filled with water and hormones plus price for this meat is only for rich people.
I believe grocery stores like super store are gouging the public on Canadian sourced food to fill their and stock holders pockets. Living in southern Ontario I find it ridiculous that we have source vegetables from other countries when we have the largest green house operations in North America in our own backyard, if you cross the border into Michigan you can Canadian produce in their grocery stores while we’re eating inferior foreign produce. It’s so disappointing that all these Canadian producers are only interested in the profits and not feeding our own country first.
OMG are you kidding me? I have tasted Australian beef over the years, NO NO and NO. Please, consumers need to know that the taste is not the same as the Canadian beef before they buy their beef, pleasssssse!
Canada is not a true market economy at all—oil production is expensive, electricity resources are abundant, yet electricity prices are the highest, and so it goes with beef as well.
thanks
This will not help the actual problem. The problem is the middle men and the grocery chains.The price of beef is also not given to farmers, they get peanuts compared to the price gouging after they get it too market.
Maybe we should stop exporting 54% of our local beef and reduce the additional costs surrounding it to support local industries and the burden placed on canadian families rather than importing from across the world. Its almost like our current government doesn’t care about families or farmers.
We have had it on Nova Scotia for a while also ng with Mexican. It didn’t stabilize any price on the atlantic…..its Fine for stew beef but not steak material and I’d rather but less Canadian beef which is what we try to do. To support Canadians.
Yes, by all means. We should be willing to pay $80 a steak to support Alberta.
Interesting. So we have to protect Canadian dairy in Quebec, the auto industry in Ontario and other Easterner industries but for Alberta, Canada encourages undercutting beef ranchers. The double standard is pathetic.
Three major beef processing plants trying to put Alberta ranchers out of business because they can get beef from Texas and Australia that are government subsidized. Canada is sick!
I’m all for supporting Canadian producers but the price of beef is insane I actually tried for the first time Australian strip loin steaks from the superstore and they were fantastic actually a triple a steak for the double a price
Sean Kerr, it doesn’t. Just like the prairie provinces do nothing to help the country. They cave into trump and that’s why most of his tarrifs have little impact on them.
How does sending our money out of the country stabilize our market? It hurts our farmers and in turn our country.
Carney taxation prices Canada out
TDS = Trumps Demented Supporters
Morons Against Genius Achievements
Good luck in November with that low approval rating. More clowns I guess eh. LOL!
I Hope this boneless beef is not the one is all ready in some places made by the new technology from a cell growing in a lab. I Hope Canada will protect consumers on starting feed Canadians with this labfood pretended is come from a real and truly cow, Chicken or fish. Thank you, but not for me thanks!
To all you with TDS. Trump is doing what’s best for usa. You can’t get that through your liberal heads. Canada needed someone to negotiate from day one but you wanted elbows up. How’s that working out? Clowns
Tell you what, support the country against trump instead of supporting him and I’ll buy your beef. What are the odds of that happening.
Sadly the costs are not really about the producers, it is the middlemen that have and continue to cause this.
Form Ted: Because there are no cows to buy. Herd numbers are low and cows take time to make more cows. Simple hey?
But youre also correct. Scarcity benefits everyone but the consumer. I have neighbours with MASSIVE feed lots. Im talking 25,000 plus cows to my 50-60. They are holding for sure.
Canadian Cattlemen have done what Canadian grain farmers cant seem to do. Band together to control the market at the farmgate and be price makers instead of price takers.
…I purchase beef from USA whenever I can, great quality, better price.
I’ll try it. Why not, Alberta doesn’t care about anybody else in the country so why should I care about their ranchers.
So what’s everyone’s informed opinion of the taste and tenderness of Australian beef from first hand experience?
The Canadian ranchers want to regrow the herds after Covid decimated them. So the price has been artificially high. Australian beef will lower the price back to where it was. When the herds are restocked, the local price will return to normal, and there will be beef to buy.
Our local feed lots are empty. How can we support Canadian ranchers when there is nothing to buy?
The other issue is how much the retailer is gaining. The rancher is not paid more for his cow. It seems like it all goes to the butcher or retailer who are cashing in on the regular demand and low supply.
Nothing mentioned about the processing monopoly of Cargill and JBS?
John Volpe
August 5, 2026 at 10:18 am
Great. Now do dairy, chicken and eggs.
Or how about we just scrap the industrial carbon tax and we can buy our own food instead of shipping it half way across the world.
Should read, Canadians can’t afford to buy Canadian beef. Dummies
Or the liberals ciuld take the taxes off the farmers, remove the harsh taxes from our paychecks and we could afford to support CANADIAN farmers. This government is so backwards
So many things to do when Alberta gains its Independence. Alberta will cut beef regulations back to what they were 50 years ago so small and medium sized farms can compete against the corporate farms that the government has favored because they donate to the Liberal Party.
Alberta will become the country exporting to Australia.
Great. Now do dairy, chicken and eggs.
Tedd Yarra… If ranchers are making big bucks off cattle then why isn’t everyone raising cattle? Flooding the market? Driving down prices?
Australia tried an economic carbon tax in 2012. It ended in 2014 due to it being massively unpopular. Canada implemented it’s economic carbon tax in 2015 and it still mostly exists today. Gee… I wonder why Canadian beef is so much more money?
Take it from a Canadian rancher. Cattlemen in Canada are making an absolute mint off cows. 5 years ago you could buy a commercial beef heifer for $1200 at the right time of year. That same cow is now $5000.
Calves are worth north of $2000 after 3 days even with a strong chance of mortality in the first month.
North american herds are at all time lows due to round after round of sell offs in the 90s and mid 2010s.
I myself downsized my herd due to starting a family 2 years ago. It is literally too expensive to get back into now.
Is the middleman and packers and grocers gouging? You bet they are. But while grain farmers struggle with record high costs of production and terrible grain prices, the cattlemen are laughing all the way to the bank.
No citizen of Canada wants meat sourced outside country. Corporate profiteering and a complete corrupt economics. Promotion piece!
Canadian farmers are already struggling. The rising cost is largely attributed to the rising cost of diesel for running their tractors to grow feed for their cattle because they need to grow enough feed for the winter months. Droughts and wildfires are already making it very hard. Letting Australia take over the beef market is going to bankrupt our Canadian farmers. And then we will be more vulnerable in the event of an international conflict.
My question is how is it being transported to Canada ? If transported frozen , is there health risk for consumers not knowing this ????just makes no sense to me
So when the prices are high the cattle farmer isn’t making the money, it’s the middle man bleeding us dry. Buy the hell out of this stuff and ignore the local product till the middleman gets squashed back into submission. Or buy direct from farmers.
Ok. I see. Sldnxjalmednns274628116462@?!’*!
So Canada’s undying carbon tax (2015 to current) compared to Australia’s short lived run at it (2012 to 2014) is literally proven to be bad for average Canadian’s by this disparity of pricing. How tragic for your narrative.
It was using Aussie/Zealand beef that put the Ponderosa restaurant out of business years ago, why bring in worse quality, better to get from USA!
It is the worst tasting beef, taste gamy tough. I wouldn’t buy again.
We have bought Australian beef. It is as tough as shoe leather, even the premium cuts
We get the price issue, what most journaliste dont seem to get is the close relationships between Charlebois and the industry and his constant approval of their pricing matrix.Check his alma mater and their relationships with the Empire group. Try other retail expert, you will be surprised.
No thank you. Canadian beef for Canadians first. extra profit should only come after Canadians are all fed
Tom, I do buy canadian… outside of Canada.
Take care of your own first. We get rapped for goods in canada but can go to the US and get that same canadian product a fraction of the price.
The producers and government in canada should be ashamed for screwing their own people
Where is the editor of this article? For the sake of your readers please fix this: “sometimes at a lower price than locally grown beef.” The correct word is locally PRODUCED beef, not locally grown. You cannot grow beef!!!
It would be nice if some of that lower priced imported beef could end up on grocery shelves in Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada.
Thank you.
Australian doesn’t have all the rules, regulations and red tape that Canada has which makes their products cheaper. One example in Canada, a rancher that moves his herd from the winter pasture to a summer pasture has to document and report to the government each animal that has been moved. With large herds that can take days of documentation to the point the rancher has to subcontract the documentation work to a third party then add on that cost to his beef prices. Government control is totally getting out of hand.
Canada is getting to the point government interference prevents Canada of producing anything.
How about boycotting foods that are overpriced? Considering they have a short life span and perishable, grocers will be forced to lower the prices.
Temporary Foreign Heifers
Beef now outsourced.
Mmm.. fresh meat coming from the other side of the world haha!
Right… Except it’s not the same beef. Different cattle species entirely, more aimed at export to the Asian market. Basic journalism would have pointed this out.
WHAT A DUMB IDEA .farms in Alberta all over the place. and the bright idea is ship it across the planet, liberal government is the problem.
Sad!
Amazing how Albertans can get 3 ribeye steaks for $16 (Australian or not), but here in BC you can’t buy a two chuck steaks for that price
yes less expensive, just puts all our ranch’s out of business. What happened to the Buy Canadian mantra.
Now – if we could also get cheaper milk to compete against the milk cartels of canada-
Bring in Argentinian beef. It tastes better and is cheaper anyway.
Imagine all the CARBON released from having beef shipped from that particular prison colony when we have cows here. A uniquely Canadian solution.