Bird flu cuts into egg production
Fewer table eggs will be available for home consumption this year because of continuing outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza at U.S. egg farms this fall, said USDA economists, who estimated that table egg production this year would be 1 percent less than in 2023.
Consumers say ‘shrinkflation’ continues in food
Three out of four Americans said they have noticed “shrinkflation” at the grocery store within the past 30 days, with snack foods catching their attention most frequently, said a Purdue University report on Wednesday. Shrinkflation is the practice of reducing the amount of food in a package while keeping the price the same.
Food inflation’s ‘remarkably small’ bite and consumer perception
Americans are spending a greater share of their income on food than they did before the pandemic, but the increase is less dramatic than some commentators are making it appear in an election year, said two think tank analysts on Wednesday. Food is the second-largest consumer expense, accounting for about 13.4 cents of the consumer dollar.
Food prices are not going to decrease, says analyst
Despite the attention the cost of food is getting in the presidential campaign, “food prices are not going to decrease,” said Aaron Smith, a University of California professor of agricultural and resource economics, in a blog on Thursday. “In a healthy economy, the prices of individual products go up and down, but the general price level only goes up.”
One in three consumers expect inflation to worsen this fall
The U.S. inflation rate is the lowest in three and a half years, but six of 10 consumers say inflation affects them more now than it did three months ago, and more than one-third of them expect inflation will be worse in November than it is now, according to a University of Illinois survey. Republicans held the gloomiest views.
Consumers say political parties can fix high food prices—but only if their side wins
Just as presidents get credit for steering the U.S. economy, consumers in a University of Illinois survey said the two major political parties can help lower grocery prices — but only if their side is in charge. A minority of respondents in the poll released on Monday said the issue was beyond solution by politicians.
Food inflation rate is lowest since May 2021
Food prices rose by a modest 2.2 percent in the past year, and while hamburger and pork chops cost more than they did last July, cheese, rice, and potatoes cost less, said the Labor Department on Wednesday. It was the sixth month in a row of low food inflation, and a Purdue survey indicated that inflation-wary consumers believe food prices are moderating.
Already low, food inflation to slow in 2025, says USDA
Grocery prices will rise by a scant 0.7 percent in 2025, the smallest increase in seven years, said USDA analysts on Thursday in their first forecast of food inflation in the new year. Grocery price inflation was forecast at a below-normal 1 percent this year.
‘Turning the corner’ on grocery inflation
After the largest inflationary jolt in prices in a half century, “We are seeing signs that grocery prices may be turning a corner,” said White House national economic adviser Lael Brainard on Thursday. The grocery inflation rate was 1 percent over the past 12 months, Brainard said during a speech, “but corporations have to do more to bring their prices down.”
Survey: Higher food prices stick in Americans’ minds
A clear majority of Americans say that food prices increased more than any other household expense in the past year and that the food inflation rate is three times higher than its current 2.1 percent, according to a Purdue University survey released on Wednesday.
Study: Climate change will drive up food costs, threatening political stability
Global warming may drive up food inflation by as much as 3.2 percentage points a year, based on temperature increases projected for 2035, according to a paper published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment on Thursday. Warming is also projected to cause an overall rise in inflation of up to 1.2 percent annually during that period.
Americans expect high food inflation to persist
Despite the recent slowdown in the rise of food prices, many consumers believe high food inflation will persist for a year to come, said Purdue researchers on Wednesday. Republicans were far more likely than Democrats to predict higher food prices, suggesting a partisan tint in expectations.
In speech, Biden backs ban on ‘shrinkflation’
President Biden, in his State of the Union address Thursday night, urged Congress to ban “shrinkflation” — the practice of reducing product size or quantity without lowering the price — in food and other consumer goods. “Pass Bobby Casey’s bill and stop this,” said Biden, referring to Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.
Grocery prices to edge downward in 2024, says USDA forecast
After two years of higher-than-normal grocery inflation, retail food prices are headed for their first year-over-year decline since 2017, said USDA economists on Thursday. Grocery prices would be an average of 0.4 percent lower this year than in 2023, led by falling prices for pork, eggs, fresh vegetables, and cereal and bakery products.
As food inflation rate falls, consumer optimism rises
The U.S. food inflation rate, on the decline since August 2022, shrank to an annualized rate of 2.7 percent at the end of 2023, said the monthly Consumer Price Index report on Thursday. A Purdue survey said Americans’ expectations of food inflation are the lowest in two years, suggesting consumers are more optimistic about prices this year.
As inflation falls, ‘backwards pressure’ on food prices, analyst says
Compared to food price inflation of 11 percent in 2022, grocery price increases will be virtually nonexistent this year, said a Wells Fargo analyst Wednesday during a panel discussion on the 2024 outlook for the food and ag sector. A Rabobank analyst said that softer commodity prices would take the steam out of the hot farmland market.
Food inflation rate slows to U.S. average
After outrunning the rest of the U.S. economy for 19 months, food price inflation has slowed to 3.7 percent, the same rate as the nation overall, said the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday. Dairy prices fell 0.2 percent on an annualized basis while meat, fish, poultry, egg, fruit, and vegetable prices rose modestly.
Inflation aside, Americans spend more for food
Americans opened their wallets to spend a record amount on food last year, even when inflation is considered, partly because they like the convenience of take-out and restaurant food, said two USDA economists. Outlays on food away from home grew by an inflation-adjusted 11 percent last year at the same time inflation was driving up prices.
Food inflation rate is lowest in two years
Although the U.S. inflation rate is up for the second month in a row, the annualized food inflation rate of 4.3 percent is the lowest since the 3.7 percent rate in August 2021, said the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday. The food inflation rate has fallen each month since peaking at 11.4 percent in August 2022.