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Economics
Inflation & Prices

Food Costs Are Tumbling But Shoppers Still Face Soaring Bills

  • Executives warn of more food price hikes, even as staples drop
  • Dilemma reflects time lag between farmgate and retail prices
Inflation has peaked but food prices have not.

Inflation has peaked but food prices have not.

Photographer: Yuki Iwamuray/AFP/Getty Images

As a rout in the price of food commodities from wheat to cooking oil deepens, the cost of products on grocery shelves continues to rise. 

Almost a year on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which sent grains and other staples soaring to a record, a United Nations’ index of food-commodity costs fell for a 10th straight month in January. The longest falling streak in at least 33 years contrasts with the food inflation that’s worsening a cost-of-living crunch for consumers.