The prior post confirmed that U.S. domestic consumption of dairy products is down. Why are they down? Is it the retail pricing? Is inflation still increasing prices on retail dairy products? Inflation is typically measured in year-to-year changes. But inflation is cumulative and builds continuously over time. This post will compare current retail pricing to the 2019 retail prices of dairy products, before COVID and before major inflation started. The products reviewed will be the same as covered in the prior post, fluid milk, cheese, and butter.
For 15 months, the Food CPI indexes of inflation has stayed above the overall CPI. The fluid milk price increases has exceeded the high Food CPI inflation. Current fluid milk prices compared to 2019 reflect price increases of 36%!
June 18, 2023
John Geuss
