As the third-largest meat holiday behind Christmas and Thanksgiving, the three-week shift in Easter timing had a substantial impact on meat sales. While dollar sales continued to grow due to inflation, pounds dropped 4.3% behind last year’s levels, according to the latest Performance Report from Circana, 210 Analytics, and Hillphoenix. This was driven by processed meat, specifically smoked ham. Fresh meat grew dollar sales 7.5% over March 2024 levels, with a 2.9% increase in pounds. Processed meat sales declined by more than 9% year-on-year. First-quarter sales increased 1.5% in pounds and 6.5% in dollars over the first three months of 2024.
The first two weeks of March reflect everyday shopping patterns with solid dollar and pound gains compared to the same weeks in 2024. Come the third week, when holiday shopping typically starts to gear up, pounds dropped into the negative. Going up against the 2024 Easter week resulted in a 16.2% decline in pounds and 7.7% decrease in dollar sales.
Fresh Meat Sales by Protein
Beef demand continues to be strong. At +4.3%, the increase in beef pound sales matched that of chicken. Ground beef played a big role in that, but premium areas such as Ribeye and sirloin also grew pound sales year-on-year. Easter-classic lamb experienced a decrease in dollar and pound sales due to the holiday shift.
| March 2025 | Latest 52 weeks | ||||||||
| Type | $ sales | $ vs. YA | Lbs vs. YA | Type | $ sales | $ vs. YA | Lbs vs. YA | ||
| Total fresh meat | $5.9B | +7.5% | +2.9% | Total fresh meat | $74.7B | +7.8% | +3.8% | ||
| Fresh beef | $3.4B | +10.8% | +4.3% | Fresh beef | $41.5B | +11.1% | +5.9% | ||
| Fresh chicken | $1.5B | +6.9% | +4.4% | Fresh chicken | $19.8B | +5.2% | +3.4% | ||
| Fresh pork | $622M | +2.8% | +1.2% | Fresh pork | $8.5B | +4.1% | +1.3% | ||
| Fresh turkey | $193M | -6.2% | -11.5% | Fresh turkey | $3.2B | -1.3% | +1.0% | ||
| Fresh lamb | $76M | -18.3% | -19.7% | Fresh lamb | $892M | +2.2% | +5.4% | ||
| Fresh exotic | $16M | -4.8% | +0.3% | Fresh exotic | $221M | +2.0% | +1.6% | ||
| Veal | $3.3M | -7.4% | -11.7% | Veal | $43M | -4.1% | -6.5% | ||
Source: Circana, Integrated Fresh, MULO+
