CHARLESTON, SC NEWS - LIVE 5 WCSC Breaking News, Weather, SportsEconomist explains high food prices
Member Center:
CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC)-Take a trip to almost any grocery store and you'll soon find out stocking the fridge is pretty pricey.
Last summer, Economists blamed the record high gas prices on high food prices, however, fuel prices have dropped steadily since then and we're still shelling out more at the grocery store.
"So what you're really seeing at the grocery store are the costs that were negotiated back six, nine months ago when food prices were still pretty high and the costs were still pretty high," said Mark Witte, Professor of Economics at the College of Charleston.
According to Witte, grocery stores are under contract with wholesalers to sell the items we buy. And location around the grocery store may come into play with how items are priced.
The extremities of almost any grocery store, which usually house meats and dairy, tend to be under shorter contracts than the pre-packaged foods you find in the center aisles.
"You'll see price falls in produce and meats much faster than the manufactured food," Witte said.
Relatively speaking, you may have already noticed that you're spending less on milk than you are on a box of cereal.
However, there may be some relief on those packaged items.
Whenever we see 'Buy One Get, One Free' specials or other deals at the grocery store, Witte said these are good signs for our wallets in the future.
"That's a good indicator that they're not moving the product and if they're not moving the product then they're going to lower their prices to sell it," Witte added.
Until the food prices drop to a level your family's more comfortable with, Witte suggests taking advantage of those special deals at your grocery store and also to use coupons to help cut costs.
