Feb 12, 2025

Arlington, VA - Today, FMI - The Food Industry Association Vice President, Tax, Trade, Sustainability and Policy Development Andy Harig issued the following statement on the January 2025 Consumer Price Index (CPI).

“The CPI numbers released today represent a worrying spike in prices in several specific categories and once again demonstrate that inflation continues to be difficult to fully tame. Overall inflation ticked up to 3% in January. The food-at-home CPI increased 0.5%, with nearly two-thirds of this increase driven by the ongoing surge in egg prices. The January CPI is historically elevated relative to other months, and we see this playing out yet again as other categories also saw slight increases. The bright spot in the data is that fruits and vegetables as well as cereals and bakery products witnessed declining prices in January.

“Looking ahead, supply chain challenges could put additional upward pressure on food prices in the near term. The impact of wildfires out West, cold weather in the Midwest, and the ongoing avian flu outbreak bear keeping an eye on in the months to come. It also remains to be seen whether and how potential tariffs may affect the price of food and household goods going forward.

“Consumers are understandably frustrated by elevated food prices. Despite these supply pressures, the food industry is doing everything it can to keep prices as low as possible by reassessing and diversifying supply chains to minimize the impact of these disruptions on food prices.”