Prices For These Popular Foods Are Finally Coming Down

Over the last year, the high price of eggs have become a symbol and wider metaphor for food inflation in general. Hit by the double whammy of an avian flu outbreak and regular inflation, the breakfast and cooking staple was subject to some of the most stark grocery price increases.

At one point last spring, a typical 12-egg carton reached the price of $4.72 — nearly 70% more than it did in March 2022. That number could reach $9 in faraway states like Hawaii and nearly $20 for organic products.

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The latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the cost of groceries rose by 7.1% this April — while it's a stark increase, the number reflects a drop from the 13.2% peak seen in August 2022. Food away from home is up 8.6% while the two categories together come up at 7.7% inflation.

Egg And Milk Prices Come Down Slightly From Previous Months

The good news is that the cost of certain food staples subject to particularly bad inflation over the last year have finally started to come down in April. Milk prices fell by 2% while egg costs also fell by 1.5%.

According to the BLS numbers, egg prices are still up 21.4% from a year ago but the downward trend is a welcome sign that the worst inflation may have passed. The biggest drop in egg costs occurred in March 2023 when prices fell by 10.9% once the avian flu outbreak stabilized. 

"Egg prices are usually seasonal, and the summer months generally see the lowest egg prices in any given year," Wells Fargo  (WFC) - Get Free Report analyst Kevin Bergquist told Yahoo Finance. "But bear in mind that egg prices can be very volatile, so one could anticipate some reversal of the drop in price, particularly when consumers start to see lower egg prices at the checkout counter."

Other foods that saw a decrease in prices include the 2.7% drop for citrus fruits such as lemons and oranges as well as a 2.2% decrease in bacon prices. Coffee prices fell 1.4%. while the cost of fish and other seafood dropped by 1.7%.

Certain items also rose or stayed largely unchanged — the price of cereals and other grains rose by 0.2% while the cost of nonalcholic beverages fell  by 0.1%. Bigger increases were observed with with lettuce (3.5%) and ham (2%) due to seasonal availability and production.

'Inflation Is Cooling,' Analyst Says

This is very welcome news to the 57% of American households who started buying different or fewer groceries in the last year to combat inflation.

Grocery prices still rose more than the overall 4.9% growth of the consumer price index but April marks the 10th consecutive month in which the index has gone down — in a remarkable shift from sky-high inflation of the summer, overall food prices have also stayed flat for two months now.

Many of the decreases are also affected by the lower price of gas (BLS numbers show that it fell more than 12% between March and April) that also brings down the cost of production and, in so, prices.

"It's sticky and bumpy, but make no mistake, inflation is cooling,” Gregory Daco, chief economist at Ernst And Young's EY-Parthenon, said in a statement on the results.