US: Fruit and vegetables retail prices not affected by drought
Current Consumer Price Index, which measures the change over time in the prices paid for a representative market basket of goods and services, is at 2.5% to 3.5%, unchanged from last month.
"Mostly owing to this drought, how we have seen it affect crop prices, how we expect to see it filtered into retail food prices, we are looking at 2013 as being the year of higher than normal food price inflation for American consumers," Volpe said in a USDA interview.
However, one bright spot for consumers is that inflation for fruits and vegetables are expected to stay normal, at 2% to 3%. And, though higher corn and soybean prices may not immediately affect meat and processed foods, we may still feel the effects into 2014.
Source: farmfutures.com
