Arlington, VA - Today, FMI - The Food Industry Association Vice President, Tax, Trade, Sustainability and Policy Development Andy Harig issued the following statement on the April 2024 Consumer Price Index (CPI).
"The latest CPI report demonstrates that the process of taming inflation continues, with food-at-home a particular bright spot in this month’s data. On a month-over-month basis, inflation for food-at-home actually went negative at minus 0.2% and showed a strong reading of 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Several individual grocery categories also saw declines, including a decrease of 7.3% in the price of eggs. Food-at-home inflation is now running below both all items inflation (3.4%) and 'core' CPI (3.6%). This is good news for both consumers and the food industry.
“Similarly, we’re encouraged by our latest consumer trends report that found that food price inflation has done little to impact how consumers feel about their grocery shopping experience. According to FMI's U.S. Grocery Shopper Sentiment Index, which measures consumers’ attitudes about grocery shopping in general and their primary store specifically, sentiment reached a post-COVID-19 pandemic high in 2023 (72 out of 100) and continues to remain elevated (currently 70 out of 100), with more than half of shoppers surveyed expressing positive feelings toward grocery shopping.
"Food is a volatile sector - which is why it is excluded from core CPI calculations - and bears continued monitoring. For example, energy prices have a significant impact on food costs and are running hotter than expected. But today’s CPI report is incredibly positive news for grocery shoppers and shows that the industry’s efforts to engage and partner with consumers to help address high inflation have continued to drive progress.”
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