U.S. grocery prices rise by the largest amount in recent years

According to data reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on January 12 , U.S. consumer prices rose 7% in December 2021 compared with the same period last year , exceeding the 6.8% growth in November and 6.2 % in October , marking the largest year-on-year increase since June 1982 .

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, during 2021, household grocery prices in the United States rose 6.5%, while the average annual growth rate in the past 10 years was only 1.5%. In addition to grocery stores , the restaurant industry also saw an increase. In December , the price of takeout food increased by 6% year-on-year, the price of dine-in food in restaurants increased by 6.6%, and the price of fast casual restaurants increased by 8%.

In the grocery sector, prices for all six household food categories tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics rose for the year , although prices for meat, poultry, fish and eggs fell 0.4% in December from November . In 2021 , meat, poultry , fish and egg prices rose 12.5% ​​from December 2020 .

Looking at the entire month of December , fresh produce had the largest monthly increase, with fresh fruit prices rising 1.8% in November alone . For the whole of 2021 , fresh fruit prices have risen 7.9 %.

Other household grocery subcategories also saw large price increases in 2021 :

Beef (price increased by 18.6% compared to December 2020 )

Pork (up 15.1%)

Eggs (up 11%)

Poultry ( up 9.5%)

Fish ( up 8.4%, led by fresh fish and seafood)

Baby food (up 7.9%)

Soda and other carbonated beverages ( up 7.4%)

As early as November last year , market research firm IRI predicted that the inflation rate of packaged consumer goods could reach 8% by the first half of 2022, and then slow to around 4% in the second half of the year.

KK Davey, president of IRI Strategic Analysis , said at the time that without the stimulus of the government's epidemic aid program and price inflation reducing wage growth, Americans are expected to become more sensitive to prices in 2022 .

IRI then noted that its most recent survey in December showed that 90 % of shoppers said they had noticed rising prices at grocery stores, 48% said recent prices were much higher than before , and nearly 61% said they would look for a grocery store with lower prices .

In addition, the editor also learned from the data of the US Bureau of Labor that in addition to the increase in grocery prices, housing prices in the United States also increased by 4.1 % year-on-year in December . It can only be said that under the combined fermentation of multiple factors such as the epidemic and the supply chain crisis, people all over the world are going through a difficult time.

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