Lately, when you’ve visited the grocery store, you may have noticed some common items are a bit more expensive than you remember. That list is continuing to grow, with more companies announcing price hikes on their items.
In this case, Kraft Heinz is the latest organization to announce price hikes on some of its items. In fact, dozens of products will cost you a bit more starting in March. Items included in the price increase include certain SKUs of Velveeta cheese, hot dogs and cold cuts, and Oscar Mayer turkey bacon. Even your coffee isn’t safe, as Kraft Heinz’s Maxwell House coffee will be bumped up a bit too.
Good Morning America provided specifics saying certain types of Velveeta cheese will see a 6.6 percent increase. The mentioned hot dogs and cold cuts will rise slightly more, incurring a 10 percent increase. Turkey bacon fans, however, will be displeased to learn the Oscar Mayer brand will go up a whopping 30 percent. Luckily, coffee drinkers aren’t as affected as Maxwell House is only going up 5 percent.
Kraft Heinz said these expenses aren’t going to be applied to all its products, only those experiencing the worst cost pressures. Federal Reserve Officials said Wednesday they plan to address this by increasing interest rates soon. “With inflation well above 2 percent and a strong labor market, the Committee expects it will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate,” officials stated.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the current rate is so high is because of supply and demand imbalances. The imbalance occurred because of both the pandemic and the reopening of the economy.
With luck, the grocery shortages and price hikes will cease soon.
Grocery Stores Are Experiencing Food Shortages Due to Supply Chain Issues
As if groceries becoming more expensive wasn’t bad enough, you’ve also likely noticed barren shelves. It turns out a supply chain issue is to blame and the problem may not be going away anytime soon.
Reuters attributes high grocery demands and high freight costs as the reasons for the supply issues. As one might expect, Omicron-related labor shortages aren’t helping the matter either. All these issues have culminated in huge backlogs with processed food and fresh produce companies. The worst news? Experts estimate the supply chain issues will persist for at least another four to six weeks as Omicron continues to dent the workforce.
The problem isn’t limited to the United States either. In Australia, grocery chain operator Woolworths Group reported severe employee shortages. According to them, 20 percent of distribution center employees are off work because of COVID-19. Stores themselves are down 10 percent.
With inclement weather frequently hitting us in the United States, this is a problem that will get better later rather than sooner.
