Food prices climbed sharply in December, providing little relief to consumers at the grocery store.
The 0.7 percent jump in food prices from a month earlier was the largest one-month increase in grocery prices since October 2022. That was up from 0.2 percent in September, the last month the federal government released month-to-month inflation figures for after the shutdown disrupted data collection.
Compared with a year earlier, food prices were up 3.1 percent in December.
The increase could frustrate consumers who have been facing higher costs at the grocery store for years. On the campaign trail, President Trump promised to swiftly enact policies that would bring prices down for food and other products if he was elected.
Mr. Trump has underscored the drop in egg prices in recent months. In December, egg prices continued to fall, declining 8.2 percent over the month. Retail prices for eggs have been falling after reaching record highs last year amid a bird flu outbreak that hit poultry farms and forced producers to cull millions of hens.
Food categories that have gotten more expensive include fruits and vegetables, which saw their prices rise 0.5 percent from the previous month. Coffee prices climbed 1.9 percent, and costs for cereal and bakery products increased 0.6 percent.
Beef and veal prices also rose 1 percent over the month and were up 16.4 percent from a year earlier. Many economists have pointed to the decline in the country’s cattle herd as the main driver of high beef prices.
Food inflation has been relatively moderate though in recent years compared with the steep rise in grocery costs in 2022. The surge in prices at the time was largely the result of a mix of supply and demand pressures, many tied to the pandemic and other global events.
In recent months, the White House has pointed to the Trump administration’s attempts to lower food prices. In December, the administration pledged to protect America’s food supply by directing the attorney general and chair of the Federal Trade Commission to “investigate price fixing and anti-competitive practices across the food sector.”
Ben Casselman contributed reporting.
Madeleine Ngo covers immigration and economic policy for The Times.
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