Data Training Webinar: Food Price Outlook

Date: Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Time: 1:00 PM ET
Duration: 1 hour
Speaker: Matthew MacLachlan and Megan Sweitzer

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Description: How much are food prices predicted to increase in 2023?

USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) forecasts annual food price changes in the Food Price Outlook (FPO) data product. Forecasting food price changes has become increasingly important due to the changing structure of food and agricultural economies and the important signals the forecasts provide to farmers, wholesalers, retailers, consumers, and policymakers. The FPO forecasts are primarily based on the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) data. The CPI for food measures changes over time in the retail prices paid by consumers for food away from home and for food at home categories such as meats, dairy products, and fruits and vegetables. ERS analyzes the current index levels, examines changes, and constructs forecasts of the CPI for food. ERS also analyzes and forecasts the PPI for farm-level agricultural and wholesale food markets. Like the CPI, the PPI measures price changes over time; however, instead of measuring changes in retail prices, the PPI measures the average changes in prices paid to domestic producers for their output.

In this webinar, ERS Economists Matthew MacLachlan and Megan Sweitzer will provided an overview of the data and analysis available from the Food Price Outlook data product, highlight its uses, and demonstrate how to find the data on the ERS website.

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