Don't Waste Your Money | Price of beef, eggs and pork remain high

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The U.S. government said inflation is down, but prices still remain high at grocery stores for items like beef and eggs.

A measure of inflation that is closely tracked by the Federal Reserve slipped last month in a sign that price pressures continue to ease. Prices rose 0.3% from January to February, decelerating from a 0.4% increase the previous month. Compared with 12 months earlier, though, prices rose 2.5% in February, up slightly from a 2.4% year-over-year gain in January.

The price of beef, pork and eggs remain high, even though inflation is down to 3%.

The good news is egg and beef prices are down from their 2022 highs, when a carton of eggs was over $4. But after dropping in 2023, eggs are up again, over $3.

Steak is averaging $7 a pound, down from 2022, but still above the cost in 2019.

Food experts said food prices are a lot harder to get under control compared to some of those other consumer goods.

"Well food prices are still going up, they are just going up less than a much lower rate than they were previously," said Kimberly Palmer with Nerdwallet.

Palmer said the problem is that prices are still rising. There hasn't been a deflation.

As for beef, pork and eggs, bird flu and droughts have caused supplies to shrink, meaning it's unlikely we will see prices much lower according to Julie Ramhold of DealNews.com.

"We are harvesting fewer animals for meat every year, so the beef supply is kind of in this shrinking situation," Ramhold said.

Even if grocery inflation continues to ease in 2024, people shouldn't expect prices to come back down to pre-pandemic levels.

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