A Look at Retail Corned Beef Sales During the St. Patrick's Day Holiday

Within the holiday food space, there are a few products that are widely considered synonymous with the holiday, such as beef burgers with the 4th of July or Prime Rib with Christmas. However, few beef products are known to be more synonymous with a holiday as corned beef is with St. Patrick’s Day. While Reuben sandwiches do remain a popular deli item year-round, corned beef sales truly gain their stride during March. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, aims to continually monitor these seasonal trends. 

Figure 1 shows the retail dollar sales of corned beef over the past few years. Corned beef sales at retail experience a 9-fold average increase in dollar sales and a 13-fold increase in pound sales from February to March between 2019 and 2023.¹ Given the lower price point of corned beef during March (-24% lower on average than the average beef price from 2019 – 2023), sales during the St. Patrick’s Day holiday are typically set up for success, as Figure 1 shows.¹

Promising macroeconomic indicators, recovering supply chains, and overall increasing consumer sentiment coupled with the price support that corned beef typically receives during March may spell good tidings for the popular dish during the 2024 St. Patrick’s Day season.