Why do the “official” numbers on food inflation state it’s gone up by tiny amounts like 8%, 19%, 11%, etc. but most of the foods I see has gone up by a minimum of 50%, 100%, 80%?

Question

Why do the “official” numbers on food inflation state it’s gone up by tiny amounts like 8%, 19%, 11%, etc. but most of the foods I see has gone up by a minimum of 50%, 100%, 80%?

In: Economics

Answer 1

You are in one place. The numbers are nationwide averages. Maybe it has gone up that high there, but in other places it hasn’t gone up by that much

Another thing to consider is differences between something like say apples or milk, versus things like frozen apple pies. In the former, it would simply be inflation (and possibly stores trying to sell for a higher profit margin) where in the latter it could be the company making the pie having higher costs for raw materials, higher wages, higher transportation costs, higher packaging costs, etc that could all combine to make it more expensive.