In the United States, the inflation rate for food prices continues to decrease, according to the Consumer Price Index data released on Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The overall prices for food products intended for home consumption remained unchanged in February from January and increased by 1% year-over-year. Beef prices remain high, however, cereals and bakery products recorded a 0.5% increase, while dairy products and related items fell by 0.6%.
Looking at the last 12 months, dairy products have dropped by 1.8%, meats, poultry, and fish by 0.5%. There was a 0.8% increase for fruits and vegetables and a 2.3% increase for non-alcoholic beverages. Among the individual food categories that saw the largest monthly increases are eggs, which went up by 5.8% in February, even though they have decreased by 17% over 12 months – the most significant drop among all the food categories observed.
Prices for several categories of meat have remained high on an annual basis, including beef and veal (+7.4%), ground beef (+5.9%), beef roasts (+9.2%), beef steaks (+8.1%), and other beef and veal meats (+6.4%). Pork prices went down (-1.6%), as did chicken (-0.4%), fish, and seafood (-3.9%).
Bakery products that have maintained the highest values over 12 months include crackers, bread and cracker-based products (+4.9%), and cakes, tarts, and pastries (+3.8%).
