Rising grocery prices hit home

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The bread you are buying at the supermarket these days costs a lot more dough than it did 10 years ago.

The prices of bread and many other supermarket staples -- including eggs, apples, butter, sugar and coffee -- have risen sharply since 1994, according to Consumer Price Index data collected by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The retail cost of a pound of 100 percent ground beef, for example, was $2.16 a pound during the first seven months of 2004, compared with $1.48 for all of 1994 -- a 46 percent spike.

During the previous 10-year period, ground-beef prices rose 15 percent, from $1.29 per pound in 1984 to the $1.48 price in 1994.

In most instances, economists say a stronger economy and higher energy prices have pushed up prices at the wholesale level. This has forced retailers to pass along the higher costs to shoppers at the cash register.

In addition, the higher fuel prices have made it more expensive to ship food -- another cost passed along to consumers.

"Demand has stayed strong, but you feel like at some point, how much longer will consumers be willing to pay these prices?" said Ephraim Leibtag, an Agriculture Department economist.

Overall, the price of food increased an average of 2.5 percent each year from 1994 through 2003, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Agriculture Department.

From 1984 through 1993, the annual food inflation rate averaged 3.5 percent, the agencies reported.

Several factors have sent beef prices soaring, Mr. Leibtag said.