U.S. Department of Agriculture: U.S. food inflation will rise 3% to 4%

In the early morning of April 26, Beijing time, the US Department of Agriculture said on Monday that sharply rising pork and beef prices will put pressure on US food inflation. According to the forecast of the Ministry of Agriculture, food inflation in the United States will increase by 3% to 4% this year.

The US Department of Agriculture announced today that although the overall outlook for food inflation remains unchanged, the price of meat, poultry, and fish is expected to increase by 5% to 6%, with the highest increase in beef prices. It is expected that it will be 8%; the increase in pork prices will be followed by an increase of 7.5%. Compared to the previous report released in March, the US Department of Agriculture’s forecast for beef prices was revised up by 2.5 percentage points, and expectations for pork prices were raised by 1 percentage point.

As of the end of March, the price of fresh whole chickens was 1.269 US dollars per pound (about 2.80 US dollars per kilogram), slightly higher than the 1.28 US dollars per pound in the beginning of the year (about 2.82 U.S. dollars per kilogram); compared to the price of ground beef At $2.715 per pound (about $5.99 per kilogram), it was up 14% from the beginning of the year. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, wholesale food prices unexpectedly fell by 0.2% in March, rising by 3.9% in February, the highest increase since November 1974.

At the same time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has also raised its forecast for fat and grease inflation by 1 percentage point from 6% to 7%; the ministry expects fruit and vegetable prices to rise by 3.5% to 4.5% this year, which is more than expected 0.5% higher. According to data previously released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the price of meat and fish food in the United States rose by 3.2% in the first quarter.