Wholesale food prices are on the rise
Wholesale food prices overall are up 1.7% from a year earlier, ending a three-month streak of annual price declines.
Key points
- Food prices are rising sharply even before they reach supermarket shelves.
- A regional grocery chain recently told Federal Reserve officials that it now costs more to transport a head of lettuce from California than to buy the lettuce itself, citing high diesel fuel prices.
- Grocery prices rose 0.4%, the biggest monthly increase in 6 months, driven by higher prices for meat, dairy products and snack foods.
These are the prices paid by food distributors, grocery chains and other businesses to farmers and other producers for eventual sale to consumers.
Wholesale fresh and dry vegetable prices surged 27% last month, adding to a 31% price jump the previous month.
Additional details
- The Iran war, meanwhile, has driven up the cost of fertilizer and fuel, making it more expensive to grow and transport food.
- The big picture: It's unclear how much of the surge in producer prices will be passed along to consumers.
- Fresh vegetable prices climbed 2%, including a nearly 8% jump in lettuce prices.
- Truck freight costs are up almost 25% over the past year, the largest annual increase since 2022 and on par with the surge seen during the pandemic-era inflation shock.
- Zoom in: Unusually warm weather, crop disease and insect infestations have reduced lettuce and other leafy green harvests in California.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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