CPI Report - Food Costs Up 5.4% 11/06 - 11/07 Thanks To Biofuel Demand, Weak Dollar - Toledo Blade

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The falling value of the U.S. dollar is contributing to a rise in food prices, particularly with imported foods such as fruit from Spain. A gallon of whole milk that sold for $2.78 in January 2000 costs around $3.95 today.

Eggs were 97 cents at the dawn of the new millennium. Now they're $2.49 a dozen. Fresh whole chicken prices jumped from $1.05 to $1.49 a pound in the same time frame. "A lot of that is attributed to the declining dollar," said P.J. DiNuzzo, president of DiNuzzo Investment Advisors Inc. in Beaver, Pa. "The weaker currency is having an effect all across the board, all the way to food prices."

The falling U.S. dollar isn't the only culprit. The rush for biofuels and record-setting oil prices also appear to be having a ripple effect on food prices.

According to the Consumer Price Index, the price of food on average has gone up 5.4 percent between November 2006 and November 2007, the latest figures available. The cost of dairy and related products has soared 14 percent, while the cost of meat and fish has gone up 4.1 percent, and the cost of bread has risen 8.1 percent.

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http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080115/BUSINESS10/801150331

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1. Rising food prices are unreliable indicators, cuz people will just eat hamburger instead of steak.

:crazy:

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2. Except for those who have been living on ground beef

but can no longer afford it.

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3. Wrong, because they just switch to cat food, so keep trying.

n/t