Beef tenderloin
~$14.37–$14.67/lb · as of 2026-07-16 Hold
Beef tenderloin trades on a wholesale reference price that moves week to week; right now it's reading down across public sources (as of 2026-07-16). To see the live number, the typical range, and where your own price sits, open the reading below — then check your last invoice against it.
What is the cheapest month to buy beef tenderloin?
The cheapest month for beef tenderloin is usually July, and the priciest is December — a clear seasonal window: about 20% cheaper at its July low than at its December peak, across the multi-year public history (USDA, BLS, FRED). That is calendar co-occurrence, not a forecast; read it against your own invoice.
Why it matters
Beef tenderloin trades per lb as a wholesale reference. That is the market's figure, not the delivered price at your door — your invoice adds freight, the vendor's margin, and your volume. Always compare in the same unit.
The price moves with forces upstream of your kitchen — chiefly corn (feed), soybeans (feed), and diesel. That is an association, not a direct cause, but when those climb, beef tenderloin tends to follow. So a higher invoice is not always the vendor's doing: sometimes the whole market moved.
Notable price events
Across the ~25.2 years of public data we track, the wholesale reference for beef tenderloin moved farthest from its normal range on these dates. Each figure is the peak versus its own ~1-year local median — a market move, not a vendor markup.
What this means for your kitchen
Beef tenderloin: a highly volatile line. Don't anchor it to a printed menu price you can't revisit for months: keep headroom, and when the reading runs hot, feature it less or trim the portion before you eat the margin. Its big moves have typically held ~3 months before easing — plan for that, not for a bounce next week.
And the read that matters most: when a spike here lines up with a documented market event (below), a high invoice is the market — hold your price or re-engineer the plate, don't burn the vendor relationship. When the reference is calm but your price isn't, that's the conversation worth having.
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Jun 2001 ▼ 75% below normal
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Nov 2003 ▲ 54% above normal
Documented around this time First US BSE (mad cow) case & export bans (2003-04)
What happened · sources
On December 23, 2003, USDA announced the first US case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, 'mad cow disease'), confirmed in a dairy cow slaughtered in Washington State (Mabton). Following the announcement, USDA/APHIS documented that dozens of countries closed their borders to US beef, with major export markets including Japan and South Korea banning US beef; some restrictions lasted years. On December 30, 2003, USDA barred nonambulatory ('downer') cattle and specified risk materials (e.g., brain and spinal cord tissue from older cattle) from the human food supply.
CDC MMWR · USDA APHIS · Congressional Research Service · CIDRAP (University of Minnesota) · HistoryLink.org
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Jun 2021 ▲ 46% above normal
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Apr 2020 ▼ 38% below normal
Documented around this time COVID-19 meatpacking plant closures (spring 2020)
What happened · sources
Amid COVID-19 outbreaks among plant workers, major US meatpacking plants idled or curtailed operations in spring 2020. Smithfield Foods indefinitely closed its Sioux Falls, SD pork plant (about 4-5% of US pork production) on April 12, 2020, and JBS closed its Greeley, CO beef plant on April 13, 2020; by late April at least 15 plants were reported closed. USDA and the Congressional Research Service documented that daily cattle and hog slaughter capacity fell substantially, that weekly federally inspected cattle slaughter for the week ending April 25, 2020 (469,000 head) was down about 27% year-over-year, and that pork processing capacity utilization bottomed near 54% (53.9% on April 29, 2020) before recovering over the summer.
Congressional Research Service · USDA · USDA Economic Research Service
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Nov 2019 ▲ 35% above normal
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Dec 2005 ▲ 34% above normal
Other documented events for beef tenderloin
Documented around this time US cattle herd contraction to a 1951 low (2022-2026)
What happened · sources
USDA/NASS documented a renewed multi-year contraction of the US cattle herd. Total cattle and calves fell to 87.2 million head on January 1, 2024 (then the lowest January 1 inventory since 1951) and to 86.2 million head on January 1, 2026, the smallest US cattle inventory since 1951; the 2025 calf crop fell to about 32.9 million head, the smallest since 1941. USDA and American Farm Bureau analyses attributed the liquidation to drought (including the 2021-2022 Southern Plains drought), elevated input costs, industry consolidation, and higher cow slaughter and heifer marketing that slowed herd rebuilding.
USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service · American Farm Bureau Federation · USDA Economic Research Service
Documented around this time Drought-driven cattle herd contraction, record-low 2014 inventory
What happened · sources
USDA documented that persistent drought across major US cattle-raising regions of the Southern Plains and Southwest, including the widespread 2011-2012 drought, degraded pasture and forage supplies and prompted cow-calf operators to cull cows and limit heifer retention. A multi-year liquidation of the national cattle herd culminated on January 1, 2014, when USDA/NASS counted 88.2 million cattle and calves, the smallest US cattle inventory since 1952. Herd rebuilding progressed slowly in 2014 as some producers continued to market female cattle rather than retain them for breeding.
USDA Economic Research Service · USDA Economic Research Service · USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service
Price moves are detected from public history (USDA/BLS/FRED). Documented events come from our open, cited registry — shown as co-occurring context, never asserted as the cause. How events are picked.
How to use this reading
- Open the reading above and note the typical range and the date.
- Pull your last beef tenderloin invoice, in the same unit.
- Below the range is a good deal; inside is normal; well above is a vendor conversation.
- Watch the direction over a few weeks before re-pricing a dish — one week is noise.
Costing a dish that uses beef tenderloin? Use the Plate Cost Calculator.
Frequently asked
What does beef tenderloin cost wholesale right now?
It moves week to week. The market read above shows the current typical range and the date behind it; read it against your own invoice.
What is the best time of year to buy beef tenderloin?
The cheapest stretch for beef tenderloin is usually around July, and the priciest around December, based on its multi-year public price history. That is a calendar pattern, not a forecast; read it against your invoice.
Why did my beef tenderloin price jump?
It can be the whole market or a single vendor. The range tells you which: if your price lands inside the range, the market moved; well above the range is a vendor conversation. It tends to move with corn (feed), soybeans (feed), diesel — association, not direct cause.
What unit is beef tenderloin priced in?
It trades per lb as a wholesale reference — not the delivered price you pay, so compare against your invoice in the same unit.
Am I overpaying for beef tenderloin?
Place your own price on the typical range above. Below the range is a good deal; inside is normal; above the range is worth a vendor conversation.
More beefRibeye · Ground beef · Short rib
This is the market reference. To see whether your invoices track it, line by line, that's Muntin Ledger — your data, no language model.
Sourced: USDA Livestock, Poultry & Grain Market News · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis — public data, via the live tool · what a cost index is