07/06/2010
Any 4th of July Weekend Slip Ups?
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Nuwanee's Blogs
Food Prices Hit 36-year High!!!
http://newhope360.com/food/food-prices-hit-36-year-high
Food prices recently hit a 37-year high. Food retailers are bracing
for further increases due to a ‘perfect storm’ of rising commodity
prices, regional freezes, international demand and higher transportation
costs, experts say. The good news? Natural retailers could weather
the inflation well.
Numbers from the U.S. Labor Department
show that food prices rose 3.9 percent in February—the biggest
one-month jump in almost forty years. Cost increases are due to a
‘perfect storm’ of rising commodity prices, regional freezes,
international demand and higher transportation costs, experts say. An online poll conducted last month by Supermarket News
found that more than 60 percent of retailers expected food costs to
rise between 2.1 percent and five percent on the year, and 10 percent of
retailers expected increases of greater than five percent. Investment
firm RBC Capital Markets also predicted that food prices this fall will
be five percent higher than last year, while world food prices have
risen to their highest level since the UN began keeping track in 1990.
But will prices keep
rising—and what will it mean for the naturals industry if they do? “What
we’re seeing now is broad-based inflation across a lot of different
categories,” said Mark Hamstra, retail and financial editor at
Supermarket News, based in New York. But no one is expecting this rate
of inflation to continue, and retailers are telling us that consumers
have been accepting of moderate price increases.”
Smaller retailers might not
have much choice. “We just have to pass it on and be true to our
margin,” said Ron Leppert, grocery manager for Sundance Natural Foods
in Eugene, Ore. “It’s rather discouraging right now. We’re absorbing
the distributor gas surcharges, but not the higher product costs.”
Food prices recently hit a 37-year high. Food retailers are bracing
for further increases due to a ‘perfect storm’ of rising commodity
prices, regional freezes, international demand and higher transportation
costs, experts say. The good news? Natural retailers could weather
the inflation well.
Numbers from the U.S. Labor Department
show that food prices rose 3.9 percent in February—the biggest
one-month jump in almost forty years. Cost increases are due to a
‘perfect storm’ of rising commodity prices, regional freezes,
international demand and higher transportation costs, experts say. An online poll conducted last month by Supermarket News
found that more than 60 percent of retailers expected food costs to
rise between 2.1 percent and five percent on the year, and 10 percent of
retailers expected increases of greater than five percent. Investment
firm RBC Capital Markets also predicted that food prices this fall will
be five percent higher than last year, while world food prices have
risen to their highest level since the UN began keeping track in 1990.
But will prices keep
rising—and what will it mean for the naturals industry if they do? “What
we’re seeing now is broad-based inflation across a lot of different
categories,” said Mark Hamstra, retail and financial editor at
Supermarket News, based in New York. But no one is expecting this rate
of inflation to continue, and retailers are telling us that consumers
have been accepting of moderate price increases.”
Smaller retailers might not
have much choice. “We just have to pass it on and be true to our
margin,” said Ron Leppert, grocery manager for Sundance Natural Foods
in Eugene, Ore. “It’s rather discouraging right now. We’re absorbing
the distributor gas surcharges, but not the higher product costs.”
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