Grocery food prices down slightly in August

Despite recent price drops across some categories, inflation appears to be still going strong, according to the latest monthly government consumer data.

The Consumer Price Index increased 0.6% in the month of August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s the highest monthly increase of 2023 and a significant jump from June and July when the index rose 0.2%.

Economists believe the latest numbers are a sign that inflation is still alive and well, reports the New York Times.

On the food side, it’s more of the same. The food index rose 0.2% in August, which matched July’s number, and food at home prices also went up 0.2%. That’s a slight decrease from a month ago when it raised 0.3%. However, food prices overall are up 4.3% in 2023 and continue to grow faster than the norm, according to the New York Times.

As for the six major grocery store food group indexes, the results for August were mixed. Three groups were up and three were down. Leading the increases was the meats, fish, poultry, and eggs group, which went up 0.8% and ranked sixth out of all the categories. Gasoline was the index leader with a 10.6% jump in August. Cereals and bakery items rose 0.2% in August. The other food at home index was also up 0.2%.

The index for dairy and related products spiked 0.5% in July, but the group was down 0.4% in August. Both the fruit and vegetables index and the nonalcoholic beverages index dropped 0.2%.

Over the last year the food at home index has grown 3.0% led by the cereals and bakery products, which has surged 6.0%. Nonalcoholic beverage prices rose 4.8% over the last 12 months, while the dairy and related products index moved up slightly at 0.3%. The meats, poultry, fish and eggs index has been flat.

Where food prices will stand for the rest of the year is unclear, but continued high costs for fuel and extreme heat and drought impacting crops could have retailers passing on the price burden to consumers.