U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said some recent price increases were the result of businesses “taking advantage” of the coronavirus pandemic and supply chain disruptions to push up food costs.
Food prices have soared globally in the past year as economies recover from the pandemic and amid a jump in energy and fertilizer costs. Transporters are also struggling to cope with the extra demand for goods, leading to huge delays at ports.
“The question is whether all those increases are directly correlated to those causes or whether people are taking advantage,” he said, referring to the fertilizer and seed industries. “There are some comments I’ve read — attributed to some folks in the agribusiness world — where they’re suggesting or at least intimating that this is an opportunity to raise prices beyond what is necessary to deal with supply-chain challenges they may face.”
