Although eating out is still an expensive endeavor, food prices aren’t rising faster than overall inflation for the first time since early last year. According to data from the Bureau of Labour Statistics, the most recent Consumer Price Index, which was made public on Tuesday, indicated that food prices rose 2.9% for the year that ended in November, which was less than the 3.1% headline inflation rate.
For the first time since January 2022, the CPI as a whole was not surpassed by the food index.
Their yearly inflation rate dropped to 1.7%, the lowest since June 2021, after increasing by 0.1% since October.
Grocery prices are to blame for this; they increased by 0.1% in October, resulting in an annual inflation rate of just 1.7%—the lowest since June 2021.
According to Phil Powell, clinical associate professor of business economics and public policy at Indiana University and executive director of the Indiana Business Research Center, “the acute pressure that was on the food supply chains has retreated.”
However, the rate of increase in food consumed outside the home is more than three times faster. That index increased by 5.3% from the previous year and by 0.4% from October to November.
According to Powell, the higher wages that food service businesses have to pay to retain employees are the reason why restaurant prices are still high.
“Labour costs and an unemployment rate that is still astonishingly below 4% are the driving forces behind that,” he stated.
While prices elsewhere in the store may be lessening due to inflation, there is a freezer case full of goods that have extremely shocking prices.
Non-carbonated frozen juices and drinks have increased by 18.6% from the previous year. The cost of the icy orange juice tubes has skyrocketed due to severe weather (particularly hurricanes) and a deadly citrus disease.
Not much has improved in the butcher case: uncooked beef roasts and uncooked beef steaks have seen price increases of 12.5% and 9.1% for the 12 months ended in November, respectively, contributing to the annual increase in beef and veal prices of 8.7%. The yearly increase in ground beef is 7.2%.
The United States’ recent severe droughts have reduced cattle herds, which has limited the supply of beef.
Other areas with persistently high inflation are crackers (up 6.5%), sugar and sugar substitutes (up 6.8%), and baby food and formula (up 7.6%).
Consumers are beginning to see some relief with other items: Prices for eggs, which surged by 70.1% earlier in the year, have since dropped by 22.3% as supply increased following a fatal case of avian flu.
Data adjusted for seasonality showed that potatoes saw the biggest monthly increase among the food categories tracked in the CPI, increasing 4.6% from October. Butter, up 4.3%, trailed closely behind them.
Prices for citrus fruit (see above) increased 3.2% from October to accelerate for the third straight month.
Certain products did become more affordable: dried beans decreased by 2.3%, frozen vegetables by 2.6%, lettuce by 2.9%, and pork chops by 2.4%.
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