Apple prices lead declines

The price of apples has come down by more than 13 percent from a year ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. ¶ 

The US Council of Economic Advisers, which created the above chart from numbers compiled by the BLS, also noted that "the level of grocery prices is high relative to before the pandemic." ¶ 

However, "because wage growth has outpaced grocery price growth, it takes slightly less work to purchase a bag of groceries relative to a year ago."

Down on the farm

Falling prices for produce is not particularly good news for farmers. However, the report suggests that grocery retailers are still charging record markups, which have declined in other sectors. 

So perhaps it is supermarkets, and not farmers, who are absorbing this decline in prices.

Farmers certainly are not the ones who reaped the windfall from the run up in prices during the pandemic.

Also, it sounds as though there is still room for grocery prices to come down.

Source: "Update: Grocery Price Inflation Has Cooled Substantially," US Council of Economic Advisers, 6/20/24.