Increases for a wide variety of staples helped drive grocery store prices up 0.4% in September, the largest jump since January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday.
“Five of the six major grocery store food group indexes increased over the month,” BLS said in a news release. “The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs rose 0.8% percent [and] the index for eggs increased 8.4%.”
The January food index increase also was 0.4%, but in August, the cost of groceries rose just 0.1%, after two months of 0.2% increases. Over the past year, the cost of food both at and away from home has gone up 2.3%, led by restaurants, where prices have jumped 3.9%.
“The latest CPI numbers demonstrate that taming inflation continues to be an uneven process,” said Andy Harig, vice president, tax, trade, sustainability and policy development at FMI-The Food Industry Association, “But we shouldn’t let a single month’s data obscure the very real progress that has been made addressing food price inflation – on a year-over-year basis, food-at-home inflation came in at 1.3%, a very strong showing.”
There were some decreases. Pork chops dropped 1.2%, milk fell 0.3%, and ice cream was down 0.9%. Fresh vegetable prices stayed the same.
But over the past year, pork chops are up 4.2%; the price of pork overall, which increased 0.5% in September, is up 1.5% over the last 12 months.
Fresh fruits were up 2.2% and bread other than white bread increased 0.9%. The cost of eggs is up 39.6% over the last 12 months, reflecting in part the impact of highly pathogenic avian influenza, which continues to lead to the loss of layers at large operations.
Fats and oils increased 1.1%, with butter up 2.8% (and 7.8% over the year) and margarine up 1.9% but still down 0.6% year-over-year. Cereals and bakery products increased 0.3%.
“We remain cautiously optimistic that the worst of food price inflation is behind us and consumers will continue to experience a more stable pricing environment," Harig said. "There are undoubtedly challenges ahead, not the least of which is assessing and addressing the impact of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The food supply chain is resilient, and the lessons learned throughout the COVID-19 era have fostered additional safeguards in the system that can help protect against future shocks."
The overall CPI rose 0.2% in September.
Other highlights from the September report:
- The energy index fell 1.9%, after declining 0.8% in August.
- The index for all items, less food and energy, was up 0.3%, the same as August.
- Indexes that increased include shelter, motor vehicle insurance, medical care, apparel, and airline fares. Indexes for recreation and communication decreased.
- The all items index has risen 2.4% over the past year, which BLS said is the smallest 12-month increase since February 2021. The all items less food and energy index rose 3.3% in the past 12 months.
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