In April, grocery prices fell again, dropping 0.2% month over month.
However despite the monthly drop, they were still up 7.1% year over year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for April, which was released on Wednesday.
The yearly increase was still a far cry from the highs of August 2022, when grocery store prices were gaining 13.5% year over year.
In an interview with Yahoo Finance, BLS economist Steve Reed said, “The deceleration has been pretty consistent and sort of steep over the last several months.” In March, grocery prices were 0.3% lower compared to February on a seasonally adjusted basis.
However Reed noted that despite the monthly declines being good news, it will still take several monthly declines before it will register as a negative decline year over year.
In addition overall food inflation is still higher, up 7.7% year over year for April. Food prices were flat month over month. Food away from home, such as meals taken in restaurants and bars, was up 8.6% year over year in April, and up 0.4% month over month and seasonally adjusted.
The downward trend month over month was driven by milk, which was down 2.0%, fresh fruits, which fell 0.5% driven by citrus fruits which fell 2.7%, frankfurters, which were down 2.9%, pork, which declined 1.2% as bacon fell 2.2%, fish and seafood, which fell 0.7%, and nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials, down 0.1% due to a 1% decline in frozen noncarbonated juices and drinks. Coffee was also down 1.4%, month-over-month.
Although eggs declined 1.5% month over month, they were still up 21.4% year over year.
Kevin Bergquist of Wells Fargo said, “Egg prices are usually seasonal, and the summer months generally see the lowest egg prices in any given year. But bear in mind that egg prices can be very volatile, so one could anticipate some reversal of the drop in price, particularly when consumers start to see lower egg prices at the checkout counter.”
Foods which increased included lettuce, which was up 3.5%, ham, which was up 2.0%, beef and veal, up 0.3% due to higher prices for uncooked ground beef, up 0.6% and uncooked beef roasts, up 1.5%.
Baby food and formula also rose 4.3% compared to the previous month.
