Food Costs Jump Most in 18 Years [View All]

[Breeze54]

Food Costs Jump Most in 18 Years

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/14/AR2008051403670.html

Prices of Other Goods Rose Less Than Forecast in April

By Howard Schneider
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 15, 2008; Page D01

Rising global grain prices helped spark the largest increase in monthly food costs in nearly 20 years, as consumers paid more in April for cereals and baked goods, and the dairy, meat and other animal products that rely on feedstocks, the government reported yesterday.

Food prices have risen at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.1 percent past three months. The 0.9 percent rise from March to April was the biggest one-month advance since January 1990, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The rise in prices covered all categories of food but was most severe among such staples as grains and oils -- goods where inflation has touched off food riots in some less developed countries and led to concerns about shortages.

The costs of cereal and bakery products increased 1.4 percent from March to April and have risen at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of nearly 20 percent in the past three months. Prices for fats and oils jumped more than 5 percent in April, on a seasonally adjusted annual basis, and have increased more than 26 percent in the past three months. Prices for sugars and sweets increased more than 10 percent during that same period.

The jump in food prices, along with a steady rise in the cost of gasoline, clouded an inflation report that otherwise contained good news for policymakers.

More....