DELMARVA – Whether you’re a consumer buying groceries at the store or you’re a customer at a restaurant, you may have noticed the jump in food prices.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture released an update saying all consumer food prices are predicted to increase between 4.5% and 5.5% in 2022.
“These are some of the most significant food prices increases that we’ve seen in decades,” Cailey Locklair, the President of Maryland Retailers Association and The Maryland Food Industry Council, said.
Locklair said right now there’s not just one answer as to why this is happening. She said we can see demand increasing drastically for consumers at home with a 21% increase year over year. Additionally, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia will have an impact.
“Especially with the global conflict going on, that combination of consumer demand up, the cost to do business up all over the world this is not going away for awhile; so consumers are really going to have to hunker down and deal with this,” Locklair said.
Now, when it comes to eating out, the USDA said those food prices are forecasted to go up between 5.5 and 6.5% this year. This is something Sufang Lin, owner of Manna Asian Cuisine and Kaiju Sushi & Ramen Bar, isn’t thrilled to hear about.
“So, I just increased 0.50 cents to our bubba tea and I feel so guilty,” Lin said. “The past two years ago our crab meat was $35, now it’s $70, and the tuna per pound was $11 per pound, now it’s $22 per pound.”
Lin said while she doesn’t know right now if she’ll have to raise prices even more, she just hopes her customers understand this is something she has to do to keep the business running.
“It’s struggling right now, like me and my husband always talk about the priced right now, but it’s a small business,” Lin said. “We don’t want to open up a restaurant without any benefits.”
Authority: Friends of Cailey Locklair, Donnie Neuenberger, Treasurer.
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