Why aren’t prices falling at the grocery store? When food producers started raising prices a few years ago, they blamed their own costs, including higher ingredient prices. But ingredient prices have actually been on a downswing for months, and individuals are still paying more for food. In part, it’s because food producers have other expenses that remain pricey, like labor and transportation, compared to a few years ago.
A few years ago, food makers “started increasing their prices very rapidly, because in addition to the headline news — which [meant] consumers weren’t going to complain — everybody was raising their prices,” said Dubé. “And it took a while for the consumer to understand that prices have gone up.