Have you noticed a change at the grocery store?
Below is a summary from our director, Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, of the Consumer Price Index for the First Quarter. This effects clients, providers, and the capacity power of our local pantries and soup kitchens.
Food prices rose at a 7.5-percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2011, with grocery store prices increasing at an 11.2-percent rate. The increase in grocery store prices outpaced a 2.8-percent increase in the prices of food away from home.
Double-digit increases were seen in 3 of the 6 major grocery store food groups in the first quarter. The largest rate of increase was in the index for fruits and vegetables, which increased at a 23.3-percent annual rate. Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs increased at a 13.5-percent rate; nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials rose at a 10.4-percent annual rate.
The jump in prices of fruits and vegetables was led by a 28.6-percent increase in the prices of fresh fruits and vegetables, with fresh vegetables increasing at a 69.3-percent rate because of bad weather in many areas. Fresh fruit prices decreased at a 3.2-percent rate, caused primarily by an 18.2-percent drop in the prices of oranges. The increase in fresh vegetable prices was caused by substantial increases of 147.1 percent and 227.8 percent in the prices of lettuce and tomatoes, respectively.
The 13.5-percent jump in prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs was led by a 20.0-percent increase in meat prices. The four major food items within the beef and veal index posted double-digit price increases. The same was true for all major food items within the pork index. The index for other meats saw a relatively more moderate increase of 6.5 percent. Poultry prices were up 3.3 percent, fish and seafood 9.5 percent. Bucking the trend was the price of eggs—down 7.7 percent for the quarter, following an increase of 6.1 percent in 2010.
Prices of the remaining grocery store food groups also increased—dairy and related products at an 8.4-percent annual clip, followed by other food at home and cereals and bakery products at 7.1 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively. The increase in the prices of dairy and related products was led by increases of 19.0 percent and 15.8 percent in the prices of fresh whole milk and fresh nonwhole milk, respectively. The increase in the index for other food at home can be attributed in part to the 25.8-percent jump in the index for fats and oils, including 44.4-percent and 46.4-percent increases in the prices of butter and margarine, respectively. Finally, within cereals and bakery products, double-digit prices increases were registered for cereals and cereal products, flour and prepared flour mixes, and fresh biscuits, rolls, and muffins. The price of bread increased at a relatively modest 3.1-percent rate.
The acceleration in grocery store price changes in the last half of 2010 and the first quarter of 2011 follows a drop in these prices in 2009 and modest inflation in the first half of 2010. Grocery store price inflation was relatively high during most of 2008 but then fell sharply in 2009, decreasing 2.9 percent, year over year, from November 2008 to November 2009, the sharpest annual drop in grocery store prices since June 1959.
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