The food price index fell by 0.1% in November after a 0.2% increase in October, according to the most recent CPI report.
Food at home
Following October’s small rise of 0.1%, prices for food at home decreased by 0.3% in November. This reflects a variety of increases and decreases among the six major grocery store categories, including a 0.9% drop for nonalcoholic beverages — its largest monthly decrease since December 2010:
- Dairy and related products: +0.3% (-0.9% in October)
- Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs: +0.1% (+0.4% in October)
- Fruits and vegetables: unchanged (+0.1% in October)
- Cereals and bakery products: -0.5% (+0.3% in October)
- Other food at home: -0.6% (+0.3% in October)
- Nonalcoholic beverages: -0.9% (-0.1% in October)
These changes brought the 12-month food at home index down from 4.0% to 3.6%. Prices climbed for all of the major grocery store groups during the period, ranging from 2.4% (cereals and bakery products) to 5.9% (meats, poultry, fish, and eggs).
Food away from home
Price growth seems to be slowing for food away from home — the price index increased by just 0.1% in November after increases of 0.3% in October and 0.6% in September.
The 12-month index for food away from home remains at +3.8%, with limited service meals now at +5.9% for the period and full service meals at +2.9%.
