Grocery Bills Expected to Increase in 2019

(WASHINGTON, DC) Over the last decade, grocery store food prices in the United States have had their ups and downs, with average annual prices decreasing as much as 1.3 percent in 2016 and increasing as much as 4.8 percent in 2011. Lower retail food price inflation in 2009 and 2010 reflected the economywide downturn caused by the Great Recession of 2007-09. In 2018, retail food prices rose nearly one-half a percent. The Economic Research Service (ERS) expects retail food prices to continue this upward trend in 2019, with overall food-at-home prices forecast to increase up to two percent. Consumers can expect some variation among grocery subcategories. For instance, retail dairy prices are expected to rise between three and four percent, while prices for fats and oils are expected to decrease by between two and three percent.