15 Reasons Why Your Grocery Bill Is Sky-high Right Now Feel like your grocery bill is high? You’re definitely not alone. At this point, it’s hard to remember when grocery prices were “normal”. Every …More
15 Reasons Why Your Grocery Bill Is Sky-high Right Now
Feel like your grocery bill is high? You’re definitely not alone. At this point, it’s hard to
remember when grocery prices were “normal”. Every time we wheel the cart down
supermarket aisles, we fear which unwelcome surprise we might find next. In recent years,
many of us have become accustomed to doing quite a bit of mental math when we go
shopping because with each passing month we continue to see the cost of everything
continuously climb. The items we used to toss into our carts without a second thought about
the cost have become way too expensive to make their way into our pantries.
Over the past year, food prices have jumped by 11.4%, according to official numbers.
But U.S. consumers are seeing much higher increases in a wide range of everyday staples.
Bread, for example, surged 16.2% in the past 12 months. The cost of meat, poultry, and fish is
about 16% higher since the start of 2022. Meanwhile, egg prices soared by a shocking 39.8% -
and we’re being told that this is just the beginning.
The compounding challenges of labor shortages, soaring energy prices, and shortages
of commodities and raw materials have resulted in a significant production slowdown that’s
been affecting virtually every sector of the industry. But the food sector, in particular, has been
disproportionally impacted by this deceleration. Many processing plants had to slash
headcount to avoid crowded working conditions amid the pandemic, but since then, some
have never resumed normal operations. In turn, food producers had to increase the price they
charge consumers to make up for their higher operational costs.
After the global health emergency exploded in 2020, food retailers have seen
consumers stockpiling essentials at a staggering pace. Many of them tried to boost their
inventory levels to meet the unexpected surge in demand, but up until this day, they are still
having difficulties finding reliable suppliers, and even when they do, they might not be able to
order the volume they want.
Food inflation is a trend that is likely to persist. Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-
Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University said during an interview with Bloomberg that:
"People will have to get used to paying more for food. From now on, it’s only going to get
worse.” For low-income families, the outlook is particularly troubling. Skyrocketing food prices
are regressive and particularly damaging to them, given that they are forced to spend a greater
share of their monthly income on food compared with upper-income households. Their trade-
offs are not just foregoing a non-essential expense or not paying a utility bill. It might be far
worse, such as not going to the doctor, or not getting their full dietary needs, such as an
adequate protein intake, because it’s simply too expensive . Some of them will have to find a
side income just to cover their extra grocery costs.
By now, it has become a common thing to start making calculations in our heads at the
checkout line to determine what other things we might have to sacrifice financially because we
just got hit with a high food bill. Many Americans who have never struggled with money before
are having to make difficult decisions, such as turning to food banks for the first time in their
lives.
Unfortunately, there's not only one problem or one solution that could fix this
situation -- analysts say it will take time for consumers to see relief, which means that, until
then, our grocery bills will keep shooting higher and higher. There are many factors pushing
food costs to stratospheric levels, and they're combining to create a nightmare scenario for
our food supply chains in 2023. That’s what we’re going to expose today.
For more info, find us on: Home - Epic Economist
Feel like your grocery bill is high? You’re definitely not alone. At this point, it’s hard to
remember when grocery prices were “normal”. Every time we wheel the cart down
supermarket aisles, we fear which unwelcome surprise we might find next. In recent years,
many of us have become accustomed to doing quite a bit of mental math when we go
shopping because with each passing month we continue to see the cost of everything
continuously climb. The items we used to toss into our carts without a second thought about
the cost have become way too expensive to make their way into our pantries.
Over the past year, food prices have jumped by 11.4%, according to official numbers.
But U.S. consumers are seeing much higher increases in a wide range of everyday staples.
Bread, for example, surged 16.2% in the past 12 months. The cost of meat, poultry, and fish is
about 16% higher since the start of 2022. Meanwhile, egg prices soared by a shocking 39.8% -
and we’re being told that this is just the beginning.
The compounding challenges of labor shortages, soaring energy prices, and shortages
of commodities and raw materials have resulted in a significant production slowdown that’s
been affecting virtually every sector of the industry. But the food sector, in particular, has been
disproportionally impacted by this deceleration. Many processing plants had to slash
headcount to avoid crowded working conditions amid the pandemic, but since then, some
have never resumed normal operations. In turn, food producers had to increase the price they
charge consumers to make up for their higher operational costs.
After the global health emergency exploded in 2020, food retailers have seen
consumers stockpiling essentials at a staggering pace. Many of them tried to boost their
inventory levels to meet the unexpected surge in demand, but up until this day, they are still
having difficulties finding reliable suppliers, and even when they do, they might not be able to
order the volume they want.
Food inflation is a trend that is likely to persist. Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-
Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University said during an interview with Bloomberg that:
"People will have to get used to paying more for food. From now on, it’s only going to get
worse.” For low-income families, the outlook is particularly troubling. Skyrocketing food prices
are regressive and particularly damaging to them, given that they are forced to spend a greater
share of their monthly income on food compared with upper-income households. Their trade-
offs are not just foregoing a non-essential expense or not paying a utility bill. It might be far
worse, such as not going to the doctor, or not getting their full dietary needs, such as an
adequate protein intake, because it’s simply too expensive . Some of them will have to find a
side income just to cover their extra grocery costs.
By now, it has become a common thing to start making calculations in our heads at the
checkout line to determine what other things we might have to sacrifice financially because we
just got hit with a high food bill. Many Americans who have never struggled with money before
are having to make difficult decisions, such as turning to food banks for the first time in their
lives.
Unfortunately, there's not only one problem or one solution that could fix this
situation -- analysts say it will take time for consumers to see relief, which means that, until
then, our grocery bills will keep shooting higher and higher. There are many factors pushing
food costs to stratospheric levels, and they're combining to create a nightmare scenario for
our food supply chains in 2023. That’s what we’re going to expose today.
For more info, find us on: Home - Epic Economist