Dining Out Will Be More Expensive in 2019

(ARLINGTON, VA) The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for food is a measurement of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative market basket of consumer goods and services. The latest reading from the Economic Research Service shows a slight increase from December (2018) to January (2019) and is 1.6 percent higher than one year ago. In 2018, retail food prices experienced their first increase in three years, but the rate was still below the 20-year average. While prices for pork, other meats, dairy, and processed fruits and vegetables declined between 2017 and 2018, prices for all other major food categories increased. Eggs saw the largest annual average increase at 10.8 percent. What is ahead for prices in 2019? Price growth may continue to remain low at the grocery store. Food-at-home prices are expected to rise between one and two percent. Several products could continue to see lower prices, including pork, other meats, eggs, fats and oils, processed fruits and vegetables, and nonalcoholic beverages. Beef and veal, poultry, fish and seafood, sugars and sweets, and other foods are all expected to increase but at rates lower than their 20-year historical averages. Food-away-from-home prices are expected to continue growing at a consistent rate and to rise between two and three percent in 2019.