Shoppers track their grocery expenses by looking at the final receipt. Economists track food costs by analyzing the entire supply chain. They monitor what factories pay for raw materials and what supermarkets charge at the register. Currently, a growing gap exists between these two metrics. The cost of manufacturing food is rising steadily, but retail prices have remained relatively stable for the past few months. This economic imbalance cannot last forever. Understanding the relationship between retail prices and wholesale costs reveals why another grocery price push could happen very soon.
