TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The latest Producer Price Index, an inflation measure for manufacturers and producers, showed an overall increase of 6% since January 2022. What else did it show? A nearly 210% price increase in the cost of eggs.
While the cost of food items alone reportedly fell 1% in January 2023, individual items weren’t all subject to the same conditions. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report, the cost of eggs was up 209.8% year-over-year for producers. For shoppers, it was a 70.1% increase in stores over the past year.
Eggs had the largest price increase on the report, in fact the only item with a triple-digit increase in annual costs. The next closest increase was for fresh and dry vegetables, with a 32.6% increase from January to January.
Pasta and processed turkey weren’t far behind the fresh and dry vegetables, at 30.5% and 30.6%, respectively. Coffee, one of the most consumed beverages in the United States, had cost increases of 20.9% in the past year for manufacturers.
Translated to the customer side, the Consumer Price Index showed a 12.8% increase for shoppers on the shelf.
Other common items that Americans typically buy, such as chicken, beef, or pork, saw smaller price gains, or even price reductions, for producers over the past year. Beef and veal costs were down almost 5%, while pork costs instead rose 4.9%.
Chicken was down 9.2% while dairy products got 6.4% more expensive as of January, when it comes to manufacturers and producers. For the consumers themselves, increases and decreases were a bit different.
Beef and veal costs for shoppers rose 1.1% while pork was unchanged, or dropped, depending on if you bought pork chops or bacon.
However, ham itself was up 3.5%. Chicken costs fell 0.6% but uncooked turkey rose 0.1%, year-over-year in January.
Another big hit for consumers, gasoline, showed a price dip for producers, down almost 2% in the past year. It comes as gas prices show a slow but steady drop in prices at the pump for drivers.
In Florida, gas costs are down yearly, monthly, and weekly, with an average price of $3.29 per gallon in the state for regular unleaded, for three weeks straight. A month ago the price was $3.40 on average, according to AAA’s gas price tracker. A company spokesman said prices in Florida were down $0.28 in the state over the past three weeks.
“The fuel market is on a downward trend due to a combination of rising global oil supplies and renewed concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve will pass another interest rate hike in effort to curb inflation,” Mark Jenkins, a spokesman for AAA said. “This has already been a volatile year for prices at the pump, and that’s likely to continue in the coming months. Gas prices normally increase in the spring as Americans take road trips, which drives up fuel demand. At the same time, refineries conduct springtime maintenance and begin making summer gasoline, which is more expensive to produce.”
