(TargetLiberty.org) – May was the fourth consecutive month grocery prices fell.
After hitting their peak during the current inflation cycle, it appears grocery prices are tapering off and deflating, continuing to drop since January.
Many grocery staples prices dropped in May.
Rice and pasta dropped by 1.6 percent, eggs dropped by 0.4 percent, flour dropped by 1.7 percent, beef roasts dropped by 2.6 percent, and condiments decreased by 6 percent.
Inflation in the consumer price index (CPI) remained stable from April to May, advancing 3.25 percent year-on-year, which exceeded the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target rate.
The falling prices come amid the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates elevated, at between 5.25 and 5.5 percent, for nearly a year.
The drop also comes as the Biden administration has targeted the grocery business, with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) releasing a report in March, that spotlighted the sector’s elevated profits. The FTC also called on policymakers to further consider grocery business and their price gouging, which it noted had cast aspersions on retailers’ assertions that the grocery store’s rising prices were a result of retailers’ rising costs.
Despite producer prices for groceries rising in March, consumer grocery prices continued to decline, indicating the sector may be acting to curtail increased scrutiny by reducing their margins.
As a result of the fiscal and monetary stimulus measures legislated during the pandemic, corporate profits soared. However, consumers were left in the lurch as soaring costs continued squeezing their already tight pockets.
Following the release of the inflation data, President Joe Biden released a statement acknowledging the prices were “still too high,” but welcomed the “progress” to lower inflation.
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