Prepare to spend more money as the USDA expects food price hike
USDA expects food price hike—the United States Department of Agriculture has updated its 2022 Food Price Outlook. Practically everything we eat is increasing in price, regardless of whether it’s at a restaurant or from a grocery store.
We’ve already seen price increases soar this past year and it’s only going to get worse for the consumers. The increases will become the largest in decades as market costs have risen nearly 9% in 2022. Food costs are expected to grow another 4.5% to 5% percent this year, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service. Reports show that the most significant increase will be eating out, which will rise by 5.5% to 6.5%.
On top of that, grocery costs are likely to rise between 3% and 4% in the upcoming months, and that’s already factoring in all the other price hikes consumers have faced in recent months. The USDA expects food price hike for almost all food categories: dairy, eggs, meats, oils, poultry, etc. There’s some slight good news as the USDA confirms the cost of vegetables will trend downward.
In 2021, the Food Price Outlook for beef and veal categories had the highest price increase of 16.2%, while the fresh vegetable category had the lowest at 7.7%. No food categories saw price decreases last year. In the 2022 Food Price Outlook, beef and veal is predicted to rise another 3.4% while fresh fruits and veggies are expected to increase 3-4%. Poultry is predicted to increase the most at 6-7%, and the same goes with fats and oils.
As the USDA expects food price hike, the 2022 Food Price Outlook report stated the following: “The impacts of the conflict in Ukraine and the recent increases in interest rates by the Federal Reserve are expected to put upward and downward pressures on food prices, respectively. The situations will be closely monitored to assess the net impacts of these concurrent events on food prices as they unfold.”
Adding salt to the wound, inflation was 7.9% over the previous 12 months according to the Consumer Price Index issued last month. This would become the biggest year-over-year increase since April 1981.