It seems that there is still very little relief to be found in the food price forecasts provided by the USDA.
According to USDA Food Analyst Ricky Volpe, food at home prices are approximately 1.3 percent higher than this time last year, and that does not include inflation costs.
He says that other major food categories are around that same percentage, though there is an exception.
“The exception is for many of the animal based products for which we are already starting to stronger than normal inflation, which is most likely contributed to the drought, and for a lot of those products we are seeing prices that are considerably higher than they were a year ago”, said Volpe.
Beef and veal prices are 4.5 percent higher than this time last year, and ground beef leads the red meat category in price jumps, as the cost is 6 percent higher than last year.
Volple also mentions that poultry is at substantially higher prices than last year.
“We have poultry prices 5.7% higher than they were a year ago, chicken is 6% higher, and other chicken parts are even as much as 7% higher than a year ago”, said Volpe.
He says that the food prices of animal based products are not expected to see prices come down any time soon.
