Inflation is really gripping some consumer goods. We all are paying more at the pump. But grocery prices are also way up for some foods. I noticed the formerly 99-cent/pound Chicken Thighs we buy are rarely available at $1.69 on sale and now typically cost about $1.89.
The FARM BUREAU has released this info on their website, follow the link for the full press release: https://www.fb.org/newsroom/cost-of-july-4th-cookout-17-higher-compared-to-year-ago
The FARM BUREAU has released this info on their website, follow the link for the full press release: https://www.fb.org/newsroom/cost-of-july-4th-cookout-17-higher-compared-to-year-ago
Cost of July 4th Cookout 17% Higher Compared to Year Ago
U.S. consumers will pay $69.68 for their favorite Independence Day cookout foods, including cheeseburgers, pork chops, chicken breasts, homemade potato salad, strawberries and ice cream, based on a new American Farm Bureau Federation marketbasket survey.
The average cost of a summer cookout for 10 people is $69.68, which breaks down to less than $7 per person. The overall cost for the cookout is up 17% or about $10 from last year, a result of ongoing supply chain disruptions, inflation and the war in Ukraine.
Farmers are feeling the price-point pain too, like the people they grow food for, according to AFBF Chief Economist Roger Cryan.
“Despite higher food prices, the supply chain disruptions and inflation have made farm supplies more expensive; like consumers, farmers are price-takers not price-makers,” Cryan said. He added, “Bottom line, in many cases the higher prices farmers are being paid aren’t covering the increase in their farm expenses. The cost of fuel is up and fertilizer prices have tripled.”
Cryan also pointed to the cascading effects of the war in Ukraine, as that country’s contributions to global food security are cut off, Russian and Belarusian fertilizer exports are constrained, and some other countries pull back exports to protect their domestic supplies.
The marketbasket survey shows the largest year-to-year price increase was for ground beef.
Survey results showed the retail price for 2 pounds of ground beef at $11.12, up 36% from last year. Meanwhile, the Agriculture Department’s Producer Price Indexindicates that compared to a year ago, farm-level cattle prices are up 17.5%, but wholesale beef prices are down 14%. This serves to highlight the differences between farm-level, wholesale and retail beef prices and how the events of the last few years have had significant impacts on the beef production and cattle pricing cycles, making them all hard to predict.
Several other foods in the survey, including chicken breasts, pork chops, homemade potato salad, fresh-squeezed lemonade, pork & beans, hamburger buns and cookies, also increased in price. . .
