Market Trends: Big Spike in Beef Strip Loin and Shell Eggs Push Wholesale Up
Get to know how food prices have changed and where they are going with your Market Trends Report. Each week we’ll show you how both Wholesale and Commodity prices have changed. We’ll also include an analysis of how we expect Wholesale prices to change over the coming weeks to help you make the best purchasing decisions, all for free.
Market Overview
We finally caught some relief with the majority of Wholesale categories seeing a drop in average price this week, but Beef Strip Loin and Shell Eggs had something else in mind and their BIG bumps ended up pushing the average Wholesale price up 0.76% this week. We now sit at 17.8% more than last year at this time.
Beef Strip Loin jumped 9.09%, even more painful considering the high relative price. Shell Eggs went up 8.66% and we also saw increases in Chicken Wing (+1.94%), Chicken Breast (+0.39%), and Pork Loin (barely) (+0.08%).
Thankfully we finally saw some of the categories that had been skyrocketing back off this week. Pork Shoulder continues to fall (-8.49%) and the former high flyers Fresh Bell Pepper (-7.91%), and Fresh Onion (-4.66%) came down after weeks of increases. We also have Fresh Lettuce (-4.22%), Fresh Potatoes (-3.07%), and Ground Beef (-2.52%) with reductions.
While average Commodity price is flat at +0.21%, there are a lot of arrows pointing in different directions by category for Commodity and Wholesale respectively. This will lead to a mixed bag next week, but with the aggregate likely to continue up.
Category Trends
Ground Beef
Wholesale (-2.52%) came down as expected. With Commodity being up just slightly (+0.56%), look for Wholesale to be up a bit next week.
Shell Eggs
Must have been a bunch of cracked eggs! Wholesale spiked 8.66% and Commodity is up 2.30% as well. Would expect that to push up Wholesale again for at least one more week.
Pork Loin
As predicted, Wholesale (+0.08%) is flat this week. Commodity dropped 3.86% so look for Wholesale to trend lower.
Pork Shoulder
Wholesale (-8.49%) and Commodity (-8.09%) both took a nosedive this week. Might want to figure out how to incorporate Pork Shoulder into your menu. Would expect Wholesale to continue down next week.
Fresh Lettuce
Wholesale took an unexpected drop (-4.22%) even while Commodity continued to climb (+9.42%). Have to think that Wholesale will head up in the future.
Fresh Potatoes
While Commodity stayed flat (+0.31%), Wholesale dropped again (-3.07%). We've seen a smaller price spread before, so maybe Wholesale will continue to drop for a bit?
Chicken Breast
Wholesale (.39%) price trends came back in line with Commodity (+.99%). Would expect Wholesale to continue to track Commodity.
Fresh Bell Pepper
Another unexpected drop in Wholesale (-7.91%) even with Commodity up 4.49%. Did previous price increases decrease demand? Would expect Wholesale to trend back up with the pressure from Commodity.
Fresh Onion
Did weeks of price increases decrease demand? Maybe, as we see Wholesale drop 4.66%. Commodity still went up 6.25%(!) so we think Wholesale will head back up next week.
Beef Strip Loin
That Commodity bump last week helped sky rocket Wholesale this week by 9.09%. Commodity came back down (-1.94%) so we should see the Wholesale flatten out or come down.
Chicken Wing
Final Four forcing higher Wholesale? Commodity dropped 0.88% but Wholesale (+1.94%) went up again. One more week of higher prices?
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