Washington Oct. 2 - Americans are paying more at the supermarket with the cost of 16 basic grocery items up by 4 percent in three months, led by potatoes, cheese and apples, the largest U.S. farm group said Thursday.
An informal, 32-state survey of prices conducted by the American Farm Bureau Federation found its grocery basket of basics such as milk, bread, cooking oil and ground chuck cost $48.68 in August, up 4 percent or $2.01, from May.
Food prices have soared during the last year led by wild swings in the commodity market and higher energy costs that are passed on to consumers. In the past 12 months, said AFBF, the cost of its food basket jumped about 10.5 percent.
"We continue to see increases in several staple food items due primarily to the long-term effects of high energy prices in the food sector," said Jim Sartwelle, a Farm Bureau economist.
"Sustained high costs for processing, hauling and refrigerating food products are reverberating at the retail level," he added.
Food prices rose for 11 of the 16 items. A five-lb bag of potatoes was up 83 cents to $3.38, cheddar cheese was up 31 cents to $4.91 per lb and apples rose 26 cents to $1.80 per lb.
Among the five items with lower prices, large eggs decreased for the second consecutive quarter, down 11 cents to $1.71 per dozen. White bread dropped 11 cents from May, to $1.79 for a 20-oz. loaf.
The Farm Bureau said farmers received $9.25 of the total $48.68 cost of the basket of products.
A total of 74 volunteer shoppers in 32 states participated in the latest survey.
The U.S. Agriculture Department estimates food prices will rise by 5.5 percent during 2008, the largest annual increase since 1990, propelled by higher seafood, fruit and vegetable prices. For 2009, USDA forecast an increase of 4.5 percent, led by higher beef, pork and poultry prices.