The increase in prices has changed the expectations of buyers, and many have begun to make peace with much higher costs, however, reluctantly. The average price that consumers say they would pay for a dozen eggs is $ 5.56, the Mercado Numerator research firm reported last month an increase of $ 4.90 in January.
“This greater willingness to pay in recent months indicates that consumers are accustomed to the prices of the highest eggs, either consciously or unconsciously,” said the researchers.
And it is not just eggs: many buyers are preparing to pay more for the groceries in general, since they change the focus towards the cover of essential elements.
Many now plan to cut their expenses this summer in everything from clothes and furniture to trips, according to a survey, the KPMG consulting firm published at the end of April. The groceries were one of the two categories in which buyers said they hope to spend more.
“The tariffs have gone from the background noise to the front and the center of consumers, and their receipts of groceries show it,” said Heather Rice, consumer tax leader and retail in KPMG, in a statement with the results. “Buyers are more sensitive to prices than ever, and many are connecting the growing costs directly with tariffs.”
The feeling of the consumer recently reached a minimum of 12 years in a survey of the Conference Board closely observed as more homes anticipate the inflation escalation this year. The annual rhythm of consumer price increases registered 2.4% in March, below 2.8% of the previous month, but that was before President Donald Trump greatly expanded his World Trade War in April.
Many buyers have already run to collect products made abroad, including purchases of large tickets such as cars and trucks, to advance import taxes in a wide range of products.
The White House promoted progress towards a new commercial agreement with the United Kingdom on Thursday, and Trump has repeatedly affirmed that “almost all costs”, including eggs and other groceries, have fallen into their clock. But despite the reviews, delays and delays in various parts of its commercial agenda, the president’s tariffs have already made many products more expensive than they were earlier this year.
Both NIQ and federal inflation data show continuous price increases for a variety of common purchases. Corporate executives warn that the tremendous uncertainty remains on how Trump’s evolutionary policies will be shake throughout the consumer economy, and some already warn about possible price increases this year.
Meanwhile, many sticker prices in the refrigerated corridors of supermarkets are increasing, increasing 2% for chicken breasts and 1% for ground meat in the latest NIQ data from four weeks earlier. Year after year, beef costs almost 10% more and egg prices are almost 50% more.
But not everything has become more expensive. Among the basic products surveyed, bacon prices and orange juice have decreased.
The prices of many meat and dairy products could continue to spin depending on the course of Trump’s commercial war.
The United States is an important pork producer, for example, and exports approximately one fifth of that meat abroad, said Michael Swanson, agricultural economist head of the Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute. About 15% of American chicken and dairy products are also sent abroad, a situation that the retaliation rates of other nations now threaten.
“If those three [product categories] They could not find those export markets due to tariff actions and people simply were not buying them, that would force the United States to keep that product at home, ”said Swanson, which would probably mean lower prices for buyers nationwide.
That would be good news for consumers, but not for farmers. Agricultural exporters are already increasing alarms of a “complete crisis” as foreign buyers remove purchases. Chinese importers recently arrested 12,000 tons of American pork, the largest cancellation since 2020.
For now, Swanson said: “Actually, there is more risk of deflation in some categories than inflation in the general food package, if we have extended commercial disputes.”
However, that remains a great “if”, since the Trump Angle administration for a commercial agreement with Beijing while publicly indicating a hard line about the conversations. Until any truce is negotiated, China still faces an effective tariff rate of 145% and has responded with its own duties of up to 125%.
When it comes to agricultural goods, Swanson said: “The Chinese have the ability to press, because they actually buy us more than we buy them.”
