Let’s start out by looking at some numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Here’s a look at how prices are trending across certain food categories in December, according to BLS data:
Eggs: +59.9% annually; +11.1% from November
Butter and margarine: +35.3% annually; +1.7% from November
Lettuce: +24.9% annually; +4% from November
Flour and prepared flour mixes: +23.4% annually; -1% from November
Canned fruits and vegetables: +18.4% annually; +0.3% from November
Bread: +15.9% annually; +0.2% from November
Cereals and cereal products: +15.6% annually; -0.3% from November
Coffee: +14.3% annually; +0% from November
Milk: +12.5% annually; -1% from November
Chicken: +10.9% annually; -0.6% from November
Baby food: +10.7% annually; -0.2% from November
Fresh fruits: +3.4% annually; -1.9% from November
Uncooked beef: +0.7% annually; -0.1% from November
Bacon and related products: -3.7% annually; -2.9% from November
Uncooked beef steaks: -5.4% annually; +0.9% from November
What the heck does all of this mean? It means that food prices are rising. But I’m sure you are all already aware of the hurt at the grocery stores right now. In my local area eggs alone are up 300% from a year ago. Last night we went to the store to get ground turkey and found that it was actually more expensive than ground beef.
The Cause
INFLATION! Right? Well, that’s only part of the problem. While inflation isn’t helping as the dollar value drops, that alone wouldn’t be enough to account for the huge increases in food prices.
Gas prices are down so that can’t really be to blame either.
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