The Metro: A food economist on the gap between the price index and your cart
Food economist David Ortega explains why a cooling national inflation report doesn’t match what shoppers in southeast Michigan are paying at checkout.
Fresh produce at Meijer's Rivertown Market.
The new inflation numbers came out last week, and they say something most of us won’t believe. Grocery prices have stopped going up. Less than 2% over the past year. Down slightly last month.
Now go pull that crumpled Kroger receipt out of your pocket. Do those numbers seem to track?
Groceries still cost about a third more than they did before the pandemic and beef is likely to climb more than 9% this year.
In metro Detroit, groceries rose almost 4% over the past year. The national figure for that same stretch was closer to 2%.
That gap between what the numbers say and what the checkout line says is where we’re going next.
David Ortega, Michigan State University’s chair in food economics and policy, spoke with host Robyn Vincent about why the inflation numbers look better and your grocery bill doesn’t.
Hear the full conversation using the media player above.
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