“Everything is tight right now,” Drew Russo said. While each box offers about 30 to 50 percent savings compared to store prices, the Russos have noticed families have cut back from ordering three to four boxes to just one or two each month. Boxes are sold in categories - vegetarian, breakfast, lunch - and a basic $30 box offers a solid assortment of staples. The Share has seen costs rise in the past two years and has had to increase prices slightly. Now the food co-op, which buys food at wholesale prices in bulk, has 3,500 clients with a wide range of incomes. “There will be ups and downs in individual commodities, but the trend is up for the foreseeable future.”ĭrew and Corey Russo, a father-son duo, started Golden Share Foods of California in San Diego in 2005 to help those on low or fixed incomes combat high food prices. “There is going to be consistent pressure on food costs going forward,” Karp said. Technomic, a food-oriented research firm, expects food prices to blow past the USDA estimate and increase 5 to 6 percent this year, said Gary Karp, executive vice president of the Chicago-based consulting firm. Food inflation replaced gasoline prices as the “most important household expense concern” for Walmart customers, Simon said, citing customer surveys. operations, said in a conference call that the chain is trying to absorb the increase instead of raising prices on groceries. Bill Simon, chief executive at Walmart’s U.S. Last week, Walmart said grocery prices in the second quarter were 3.5 percent higher than a year before. Historically, food prices rise annually - slightly below 3 percent on average.Įven retailers are feeling the pinch. It’s a significant uptick after a 0.08 percent rise in food prices in 2010, the smallest increase since 1962.

Department of Agriculture expects food prices to increase between 3 and 4 percent this year. Food at home made up the majority of that jump, with a 5.8 percent rise year-over-year. In San Diego County, food prices rose 4.9 percent from the first half of 2010 to the same period of 2011. “In 2008, we were just coming off the boom, and now we are trying to recover from a deep and long recession.” “Prices are still higher than they were in 2006, and income has not gone up as much,” said Lynn Reaser, economist at Point Loma Nazarene University. These vexing problems are translated daily into food prices on colorful, tiny tags at neighborhood grocery stores.Īnd consumers have taken notice that those prices, which were up before the recession and then dropped slightly, are on an upswing again, experts said. Worldwide competition for rice and wheat.

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