Lower beef prices helped pull down the food inflation rate to an annualized 10.9 percent in October, the second month in a row of a decline, said the Labor Department in the Consumer Price Index report.
“Today’s report shows a much-needed break in inflation at the grocery store as we head into the holidays,” said President Biden in applauding a slowdown in the overall U.S. inflation rate.
The inflation rate of 7.7 percent was the lowest since the start of this year, said the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Housing accounted for half of the monthly increase in inflation of 0.4 percent. Food and gasoline also were factors.
Grocery prices were 12.4-percent higher than a year ago, although down from 13 percent for the 12 months ending in September. Prices for cereals and bakery products had the largest increases, up 15.9 percent in the past year. But beef prices fell 3.6 percent from their year-ago levels. Egg prices were 43-percent higher.
Prices for food-away-from-home, a category that includes restaurant meals, carry-out food and cafeteria food, were up 8.6 percent. The sub-category of “food at employee sites and schools,” was up 95 percent, the second huge increase in a two months. Last month, the government said a 45-percent increase reflected “the expiration of some free school lunch programs.”