The monthly gains in food prices decelerated slightly in November, though historically high prices at grocery stores and restaurants continued to weigh on poorer households.
In October food prices increased by 0.6 percent The price of fruits and vegetables, cereals and bakery products, and dairy products rose in November, while the price of meats, poultry, fish and eggs fell.
The price of bread went up 2% from October, driven in part by higher flour prices. The price of bacon and related products fell while fresh fish and seafood fell.
The food index grew at a faster rate than the previous month.
There were signs that the price growth at restaurants was cooling. The price of food at restaurants increased in November, but at a slower rate than the previous month.
The price of produce, meat and other food items have gone up in recent years due to rising prices for the fuel and fertilizer needed to grow and transport food, as well as the effects of war and other disruptions on global food supplies
In addition to the cost of the food itself, a lot of the price of an item in an American grocery store reflects costs for transporting, marketing and selling food. Many of those costs are still high.
A food price index created by the United Nations leveled off in November, as decreases in the global prices for cereals, dairy and meat almost offset increases for vegetable oils and sugar. The index, which measures monthly changes in the international prices of a basket of food commodities, was almost the same as it was a year ago.
The price of wheat fell in November after Russia started exporting grain out of the Black Sea region. The prices were higher in both of the previous years.
The USDA expects food prices to increase at a slower rate next year than they have this year.
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