As Inflation Pace Slows, Food Prices Keep Climbing
AllSides Summary
Inflation's overall pace in the U.S. has slowed a bit in recent months. But food prices remain persistently high.
The Details: Prices for food at home rose 0.7% in January compared to the prior month, and were up 11.3% from a year before. That annual figure was nearly 5 percentage points above the overall inflation rate, which is "among the widest gaps since the 1970s," according to Reuters.
Key Quotes: "Food inflation has been the most stubborn of all the categories," Walmart's U.S. CEO John Furner said. An executive at the Food Industry Association said, "Unfortunately, it is likely that food prices will remain elevated in the short term, and we anticipate that there could be further volatility in terms of inflation rising and falling in the coming months. Yet we continue to remain cautiously optimistic that the worst of food price inflation is behind us."
How the Media Covered It: Sources across the spectrum highlighted persistent food inflation this week and its effect on consumers. Left- and center-rated sources tended to focus more on global food inflation in addition to high U.S. prices. One opinion writer for Bloomberg (Lean Left bias) highlighted signs that food inflation might be peaking, including data showing that "the cost of the commodities and raw materials that go into food and personal-care products is starting to come down."
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
Grocery prices remain stubbornly high
Grocery prices ticked up nationally in January after an apparent inflation respite in December, per the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data.
By the numbers: The cost of groceries rose 0.7% in January as compared to the prior month.
That comes after December prices rose only about 0.2% from November.
Why it matters: For many of the approximately 63% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, rising food prices can be an especially difficult financial challenge.
Such prices, meanwhile, are particularly vulnerable to outside and difficult-to-control forces, such as climate change and geopolitical happenings.
Zoom in: Among the...
From the Center
'Stubborn' food inflation leaves U.S. shoppers with slim appetite for other goods
As American shoppers stomach soaring food prices, they are cutting back on purchases of other goods, such as toys, clothing and housewares, in a challenging trend for retailers.
Commentary this week from executives at Walmart (WMT.N) and other retailers shows how Americans are shifting their shopping habits and hunting for bargains in the face of the highest inflation in a generation.
At Walmart, the world's biggest retailer by revenue, Americans are still spending but are more "choiceful, discerning, thoughtful" about what they buy, its global Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon told analysts....
From the Right
Persistent inflation keeping grocery prices high for consumers
Persistent inflationary pressures in the U.S. economy have kept prices for groceries high even as inflation has eased somewhat in other sectors of the economy.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' monthly consumer price index (CPI) report for January released last week showed that prices for food at home – the classification for food bought at the store to be prepared at home – were up 11.3% compared to last year. That figure is well above the overall inflation number, which came in at 6.4% year-over-year as of January and is down from...
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