USDA economists considering lowering outlook on 2012 food-price inflation amid 6% year-over-year increase in U.S. grocery prices in December

Nevin Barich

LOS ANGELES , January 20, 2012 (Industry Intelligence) – An unexpectedly large increase in U.S. grocery prices last month is causing economists for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to considering lowering their outlook on 2012 food-price inflation, The Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 19.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found that grocery prices in December were 6% higher than they were in the year-ago period.

The USDA previously predicted that retail food prices would climb more slowly this year than last year, when a boom in crop prices caused production costs to rise.
The USDA currently predicts that retail food prices will between 2.5% and 3.5% in on an annual average basis this year.

The BLS’ Consumer Price Index for all food climbed by an annual average of 3.7% last year.

The primary source of this article is The Wall Street Journal, New York, New York, on Jan. 19, 2012.

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.