TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — While prices have gone up consistently for consumers, they’ve also risen for producers and manufacturers, the businesses that make and supply what Americans buy every day. The largest numeric increase example was with eggs, where prices to producers were up 97%.
Nationally, consumer prices were 8.2% higher than the year before, with a 0.4% overall price increase from August to September.
Separate from the consumer price index, the latest Producer Price Index, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said the cost for businesses to provide for consumers rose a collective 0.4% from August to September.
However, from September 2021 to 2022, food items alone rose 11.9% in a category known as final demand. For final demand foods, or how much food people have to buy to meet their needs, BLS reported food items rose 11.9% in the past year. From August to September, it went up 1.2%.
Depending on which grocery items were needed by manufacturers, prices were up even higher, even in just the past month. Higher prices for producers translates to higher prices for consumers down the road, adding to inflation levels across the U.S.
The largest food item price increases in September were fresh and dry vegetables, grains, and fresh eggs. The three item types had price increases of 15.7%, 10.7%, and 16.7%, respectively in the past month. Year-to-year, prices rose 40.2% for fresh and dry vegetables, 30.4% for grains, and 97.3% for eggs for fresh use.
From the Consumer Price Index, we know that this has already, in some ways, driven costs at the store up for shoppers. Food at home prices rose 11.2% over the past year.
On the shelf, egg prices have risen 30.5% for shoppers, while vegetables have gone up 9.2% for fresh product and 11.4% for dried. Grain prices on the PPI rose more than 30%, while their end product items, such as cereal or baker products, rose a collective 16.2% from year-to-year.
Overall, when it comes to ingredients to make food for consumers, BLS reported unprocessed foodstuffs and feedstuffs, to both feed people and livestock, rose 21.3%. The bureau reported with the new CPI that grocery prices were up for shoppers already.
“The index for cereals and bakery products increased 16.2% over the year and the index for dairy and related products rose 15.9%,” BLS reported. “The remaining major grocery store food groups posted increases ranging from 9.0% (meats, poultry, fish, and eggs) to 15.7% (other food at home).”
Compared to changes in August, BLS reported the prices in the PPI increased 0.4%, after dropping 1.1% the month before. With prices going up for both shoppers and manufacturers, for now, it’s not clear what will make the ongoing inflation end.
