Food Inflation May Rise to 3% to 4% in 2013 After Drought

U.S. consumers may pay 3 percent to 4 percent more for food next year, as the effects of the country’s worst drought since the 1950s work their way onto supermarket shelves, the Department of Agriculture said in its first forecast for 2013.

Beef may rise as much as 5 percent in response to tight supplies of corn, which is used to feed cattle, the USDA said today in a report on its website. The price of the grain, the country’s biggest crop, has surged more than 50 percent since June 15. Food prices will rise 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent this year, the agency said, leaving its 2012 estimate unchanged.