Fresh beef is set to become more expensive for Hongkongers after the city’s sole importer of live cattle from mainland China decided to raise wholesale prices.

Ng Fung Hong will raise wholesale prices by as much as 8.1 per cent on Thursday on the back of rising costs for the livestock, high breeding expenses for cows and robust demand for beef in autumn and winter.

The distributor will sell fresh regular beef 3.1 per cent higher at HK$4,970 (US$639) per picul (about 60kg)while the premium option – which contains more fat and is a key ingredient for hotpot – 8.1 per cent higher at HK$5,710 per picul.

This is the second such increase since the beginning of this year. Ng Fung Hong, a unit of listed conglomerate China Resources Enterprise, had raised prices by 7 per cent to 8 per cent in January.

According to butchers in some wet markets, beef is the only meat which has become more expensive, while prices for others such as pork are stable because of sufficient supply.

Some butchers said higher wholesale costs put pressure on retailers to raise prices at their stalls.

At Bowrington Road market in Causeway Bay, the co-owner of Junpo Meat Company who wanted to be known as Ho, said on Wednesday that he planned to raise beef prices by 5 per cent next month.

Ho said he had no choice but to pass the price hike on to consumers if the stock from the mainland became more costly.

Some butchers say prices for meats such as pork are stable because of sufficient supply.

In January this year, the price of live cattle went up by HK$380 per picul, Ho said, adding: “The skyrocketing price of beef in recent years is unbelievable.”

Ho, who used to buy one head of cattle daily from Ng Fung Hong, now stocks only a quarter of that amount.

Pork vendor Chen, another co-owner of Junpo Meat Company, said while the price of pork had been declining this year, “[the] beef price never decreases”.

Housewife May Lee, 61, bought a small chunk of beef at Ho’s stall on Wednesday afternoon, but admitted she was not aware if it was more expensive.

Lee, who lives near the market, usually buys beef twice a week for her family of three. She said she would consider buying less beef and more fish and pork, given the family was earning less and having a hard time amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s so hard to live in Hong Kong now,” she said.

Domestic helper Nun Azizah, 39, said she would not cut down on buying beef despite the rising cost, but added fish, chicken and pork were alternatives she could buy for her employers.

Kwok, 58, a butcher working for Tung Bo Food Company in Causeway Bay, said that its beef stall would not raise prices “for even 1 per cent” because it did not want to risk losing clients.

A housewife who called herself Yiu, however, told the Post she noticed the beef cost HK$20 to HK$30 more than usual on Wednesday.

She spent more than HK$700 picking some choice cuts at Kwok’s stall for a hotpot dinner as Hong Kong embraced the cooler weather this week.

Yiu, who is in her 40s, knew the prices would be raised on Thursday, so she came early to secure four days’ worth of beef for the family.

“The price rise doesn’t make sense at all,” she said. “But my son loves beef, so I’ll buy it anyway.”

Yiu said she would resort to other options in the future, such as buying frozen beef imported from the United States, to satisfy the family’s cravings for the meat.