Fastest-Rising Food Prices in Decades

The Wall Street Journal reports:

While food companies and supermarkets say they have reopened plants and resolved supply constraints that contributed to higher prices, they also expect prices to remain elevated because of increased costs for labor and transportation. Companies are buying equipment and reconfiguring factories and stores to keep people safe from the new coronavirus. Some of those changes are adding costs that are trickling down to shoppers.

“These are historical price changes we have never seen in a short window,” said Jagtar Nijjar, director of import and commodities at Gordon Food Service Inc., one of the biggest food-service distributors in the U.S. 

Prices for store-bought food rose a seasonally adjusted 2.6% in April from a month earlier, according to the Labor Department, the biggest monthly increase since 1974. The department is due to release figures for May on Wednesday, and many economic analysts expect it to be a sharper increase than April. Market-research firm Nielsen said food prices rose 5.8% in the 13 weeks from March 1 to May 30 compared with the year-ago period.

It is only the beginning folks.

Mad Jay Powell is pumping trillions of dollars into the economy that will be bidding for the goods and services out there.

-RW