According to BLS data, food inflation in 2020 was 3.4 percent over 2019. The general inflation rate measured by the consumer price index was 1.2 percent. Food inflation often runs ahead of the overall CPI and is more volatile than overall inflation, which is why the Federal Reserve doesn’t factor it in to interest rate decisions. However, based on commodity prices and economic recovery in 2021, we could be looking at another year of higher food inflation. There were a few interesting points in the BLS data. First, the food staples rose the most with COVID panic buying and supply disruptions impacting price. Pork, beef, chicken, eggs, and milk were all above the overall food inflation rate.
Interestingly, cheddar cheese was...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
