TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The latest publication of the Producer Price Index, which shows how inflation is affecting business owners and producers, reported price jumps across groceries and fuels. The cost of eggs was among the highest increases for producers.
The latest Consumer Price Index from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which came out Wednesday, showed national price increases had shrunk slightly to 8.3% inflation. The March CPI was measured at 8.5% while the Tampa level was recorded at 10.2%.
The inflation measure of the CPI is based on an aggregation of all price fluctuations across all industries, products, and services to show how prices facing consumers have changed.
Wednesday’s inflation report in the CPI gave Americans a look at how prices rose for consumers. Now, the PPI is showing how those costs are translated to producers, who make the products and other goods we buy in stores, online, and in restaurants when we eat out.
The largest jump in food prices were for “eggs for fresh use,” where costs for businesses to supply their products and package them for everyday shoppers rose 161.3%. It was the only food item with a triple digit increase in price listed in the PPI.
This means that the eggs used by bakers, fry cooks, and even on breakfast menus for fast-food joints are much more expensive compared to April 2021. The price for consumers was up too, with eggs 22.6% more expensive than in April 2021.
Price hikes due to inflation hit more than just eggs, for both consumers and producers, but there were some common increases in both reports.
The item that has delivered price hike after price hike for consumers and producers is gas. Liquefied petroleum, gasoline, home heating oil and diesel fuel. All of them had price increases between 86% to 118% for producers. For consumers, prices at the pump rose as much as 44% for motor fuels. Increases ranged from under 40% for premium, to 44.2% for regular unleaded gas.
Other motor fuels were up 64.2% for consumers, while fuel oil was up 80.5%, according to the CPI. Crude petroleum prices for producers were up 75.2%.
On both price indexes, coffee prices grew from April 2021 to-date. For shoppers, roasted coffee was up 14.7% while producers saw their roasted coffee prices rise 13.4%, year-over-year in the PPI.
More on the material side, the cost of unprocessed wheat was up 84.8%, while the cost for “slaughter chickens” rose 78.4%. Raw milk prices were also higher, up 32.5%, with dairy products overall up 20.4%. Alfalfa hay, used for animal feed, had prices increase 56.1%. The cost of corn for producers rose 31.9% compared to the year before.
