Energy costs help fuel supermarket prices

Business First of Louisville - January 20, 2006

 

Prices in supermarkets across Kentucky inched up slightly during the fourth quarter of 2005, according to the Kentucky Farm Bureau's December survey of food costs. The latest survey shows a nearly 2 percent increase in selected grocery items from the third quarter.

Kentuckians paid $93.86 for 40 selected items during the last three months of 2005, according to the survey. The $1.81 hike from the previous quarter's $92.05 was the first increase since the first quarter that year.

Fruits and vegetables were the biggest contributor to the increase in the overall marketbasket average, rising nearly 10 percent.

"This increase may be attributed to the sharp spike in energy prices during the third quarter," American Farm Bureau senior economist Terry Francl said in a news release. "However, I believe that while higher energy prices may work into food prices in the first half of 2006, it now appears that they will have only a small impact."

Poultry prices rose 6 percent, and dairy products jumped more than 3 percent. Pork prices fell nearly 10 percent, accounting for the only decline on the survey.

Kentucky Farm Bureau, the state's largest general farm organization, conducts its informal quarterly survey as a tool to reflect retail food price trends.