News

Grocery prices see largest monthly increase since 2022, driven by weather events, trade, and rising fuel costs

A food economist says April food prices posted the largest month-to-month increase in four years.

David Ortega with Michigan State University tells Brownfield there are still inflationary pressures impacting food costs.

“Compared to a year ago, grocery prices are up 2.9%, and that is the largest yearly increase since August of 2023,” he says. “There’s very much inflationary pressure still at work, and it’s specific categories.”

In April, the Consumer Price Index increased food at home prices by 0.7 percent, with five of the six major categories increasing for the month. The index for dairy and related products fell 0.6 percent year-over-year.

Ortega says tomatoes have had the largest run-up in prices, 15 percent higher since March and 30 percent above February.

“Domestically, we had an early frost in places like Florida,” he shares. “Production issues in Mexico, which is where we source the majority of our fresh tomato imports, especially around this time of year, and we imposed A 17% tariff on tomatoes.”

Last year, the Trump administration ended a trade agreement on Mexican tomatoes, siding with U.S. growers who have been arguing for more than three decades that the dumping practices were pushing them out of business.

Ortega says higher freight and energy costs are just starting to impact the rise in consumer food prices, but it could take up to six months or more for costs to fully reflect the current environment.

He’s expecting price impacts at the grocery store from the conflict in the Middle East not to be as severe as in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine.