USDA Predicts Moderate Food Price Increases in 2014

Dec. 30, 2013

According to the USDA’s Economic Research Service, consumer food prices should increase at their 20-year historical average of 2.8 percent during the next 12 months. This estimate is based upon calculations that include commodity futures, food animal inventories and farm exports.

But the agency’s economists warned that severe weather conditions can always force retail prices upward. The current forecast assumes that normal weather patterns will prevail over much of the country through the fall.

The USDA’s Food Price Outlook can be accessed here.