With inflation standing at 8.3% year-over-year in April, everyday items are becoming pricier for U.S. consumers. Food prices in particular took some significant steps up, as seen in the example of shopping for hamburger ingredients.
Meats experienced some of the highest price increases among food items: Ground beef now costs almost 15 percent more than in April 2021 and bacon is 17.7 percent more expensive than one year ago. On the other hand, the price of tomatoes was up just 0.4 percent over the course of one year, showing that some item suffered less inflation than others. At a 6.2 percent price increase, fresh vegetables as a whole saw the lowest rate of inflation of any food category.
Energy – the most volatile item in the Consumer Price Index together with foods – drove overall price increases even more. In short supply following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and ensuing sanctions, energy costs rose by 30.3 percent since April 2021. This increase is independent of the base effect as energy prices had already reached pre-pandemic levels again one year ago.
How Inflation Changed the Price of a Hamburger
by Katharina Buchholz,
May 19, 2022
