It's not in your head: Grocery prices haven't just gone up over the past year, they've gone up a lot:
World food prices, led by the skyrocketing costs of dairy and vegetable oils, reached record highs in February.
The shocking 20.7% yearly increase in food costs was reported Friday by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, which tracks the prices of food staples.
The price increases can partly be blamed on crop conditions and reduced export availability. However, increases in other commodity costs also played a role, said FAO economist Upali Galketi Aratchilage.
The modern economy being what it is, this isn't just a matter of tweaking production in the agricultural sector. Everything is going up.
"A much bigger push for food price inflation comes from outside food production, particularly the energy, fertilizer and feed sectors," he said. "All these factors tend to squeeze profit margins of food producers, discouraging them from investing and expanding production."
What does a 20% spike mean in practical terms? Well, the average monthly cost of groceries in the U.S. is about $386. A 20% markup on that is nearly $80.
Rich and comfortably middle-class consumers can afford to weather such a shock. Lower-income individuals, on the other hand, not so much.
Grocery shopping isn't most people's favorite activity. Now it's become a whole lot less pleasant, and a whole lot more stressful—and it looks like it's going to stay that way for a while.
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