CPI: Grocery Prices Climbed Faster Than Restaurant Prices in June

"On the up and up" was the story of consumer prices in June, with the month-to-month price increase for groceries surging past the price hikes seen at restaurants, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' monthly consumer price index (CPI) report.

Food-at-home prices were up 0.8% in June from May, led by a 4.5% increase in beef prices (the highest since June 2020) and a 2.5% overall increase in prices for meat, poultry, fish and eggs. That compares with a 0.4% increase in food-at-home prices in May from April. 

By contrast, food-away-from home prices at restaurants and other foodservice venues rose 0.7% in June, after climbing 0.6% in May. 

Overall, consumer prices were up 0.9% in June—the biggest one-month increase since June 2008, the BLS reported. "Over the last 12 months, the all-items index increased 5.4% before seasonal adjustment; this was the largest 12-month increase since a 5.4% increase for the period ending August 2008," the Bureau noted.

In the past 12 months, grocery prices have risen 0.9%, whereas restaurant prices, rebounding as restaurants have reopened more fully, have risen 4.2%. 

Fruits and vegetables saw a 0.7% month-over-month climb in prices in June after prices were flat the previous month. Nonalcohol beverage prices, after sliding 0.5% in May, rose 0.9% in June. 

Consumers firing up their grills are paying more for several barbecue go-tos this summer, with prices for uncooked beef steaks surging 6.0% month to month in June after rising 4.3% in May. Prices for pork chops as well as for "other pork," a subcategory that includes pork ribs, rose 5% in June.

Year over year, the largest price increases seen are in bacon (up 8.4%), whole milk (7.5%), fresh fruits (7.3%), other pork (6.5%) and fresh fish and seafood (6.4%).