FMI President and CEO Leslie G. Sarasin criticized the politicization of grocery prices in response to a report from the Groundwork Collaborative, stressing that it undermines efforts to improve food accessibility and quality for all Americans.
“Politicizing grocery prices for political gain is completely counterproductive to improving the accessibility and quality of food for all Americans," Sarasin said in a news release.
Related: USDA — Food inflation to slow in 2024
“With the exception of a few notable outliers, such as a period of volatile energy spikes from 2007-2008 and the current post-COVID inflationary period, increases in average grocery prices have held steady between 1% and 4% since 2003," Sarasin said. This is due, in part, to the fierce competition in food retail, which operates on a slim 2.3% net profit margin.
In the face of inflationary increases and short-term price fluctuations, the real cost of groceries in the U.S. as a share of household income has maintained remarkable consistency, remaining relatively flat over the last two decades.
“There are a variety of external factors that impact costs at various stages of the supply chain that are beyond the control of food retailers, such as energy, labor and transportation. After a period of great volatility, we are now starting to see changes in some of these factors flow through to food pricing in 2024," Sarasin said.
The USDA’s own data predicts that food inflation will continue to slow in 2024, decreasing by a projected 0.4%, while restaurant food prices are anticipated to increase 4.7%.
“We welcome and encourage a national discussion about food prices and our food supply chain, but such a discussion must be informed by data rather than politics,” Sarasin said.