Food Prices

A fall food price survey shows retail prices for 16 common food items fell eight percent or more than $4 compared to the same survey last year. The overall market basket cost released this week was announced at $49.70. AFBF market intelligence director John Newton explains the results. " The fall market basket survey includes 16 goods used to produce a typical meal. We saw big declines in the egg and dairy category as well as in the poultry and sirloin tip roast while we did see some price increases in apples, potatoes and salad mix.

He says eggs saw the biggest price decrease, while bagged salad and apple prices saw the biggest price increase. "And that's because egg supplies have rebounded from the avian influenza that we had in 2014 and 2015 and at that point in time, egg prices really spiked to three dollars for a dozen eggs. Now they are down to about $1.48. Some of the items that we saw price increases on, for example apples, we saw dry conditions continue to plague the Northwest as well as the Northeast.

Moving forward, he says consumers will likely continue to enjoy the lower cost at the store because of the current commodity prices