Washington—The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for dairy and related products was 233.16 in November (1982-84=100), down slightly from October’s record-high 233.17 but up 1.6 percent from November 2020, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today.
That marked the eighth straight month in which the dairy CPI has been above 230.
The CPI for all items was 277.9, up 0.5 percent from October and 6.8 percent higher than in November 2020. The November CPI for food at home was 266.4, up 0.3 percent from October and 6.4 percent higher than in November 2020.
Among other food-at-home categories, the November CPI for meats, poultry, fish and eggs was 299.2, up 0.6 percent from October and 12.8 percent higher than in November 2020.
The CPI for cheese and related products in November was 241.6, up slightly from October but down 0.3 percent from November 2020. That marked the third straight month in which the cheese CPI was above 240.
The average retail price for a pound of natural Cheddar cheese in November was $5.33, down seven cents from October and down more than 26 cents from November 2020. That’s the lowest average retail price for Cheddar cheese since January 2020, when it was $5.20 per pound.
Average retail Cheddar prices in the major regions, with comparisons to a month earlier and a year earlier, were as follows:
Northeast: $5.56 per pound, down more than 36 cents from October and down more than 64 cents from November 2020.
Midwest: $5.20 per pound, up more than 26 cents from October and up more than seven cents from November 2020.
South: $5.15 per pound, down almost 13 cents from October and down almost 90 cents from November 2020.
West: $5.45 per pound, down more than three cents from October but up more than 11 cents from November 2020.
The average retail price for a pound of American processed cheese was $3.95, down almost four cents from October and down more than 18 cents from November 2020.
Retail Whole Milk Price Rises
November’s CPI for whole milk was 230.7, up 1.4 percent from October and 6.6 percent higher than in November 2020. That’s the highest level for the whole milk CPI since September 2014, when it was 231.6.
The CPI for “milk” was 157.1 (Decmeber 1997=100), up 1.0 percent from October and 4.6 percent higher than in November 2020. November’s CPI for milk other than whole was 160.3, up 0.9 percent from October and 4.4 percent higher than in November 2020.
In November, the average retail price for a gallon of whole milk was $3.67, up less than one cent from October and up almost 25 cents from November 2020. That’s the highest average retail price for whole milk since January 2015, when it was $3.76 per gallon.
Average retail whole milk prices in the three major regions reported by the BLS (no prices are available for the Midwest) in November, with comparisons to a year earlier and a month earlier where available, were:
Northeast: $4.00 per gallon, up almost two cents from October.
South: $3.51 per gallon, down more than five cents from October but up more than 10 cents from November 2020.
West: $3.91 per gallon, up more than five cents from October and up almost 38 cents from November 2020.
Butter CPI Drops
The CPI for butter was 242.9, down 3.7 percent from October but 2.4 percent higher than in November 2020. That’s the lowest level for the butter CPI since December 2020, when it was 238.2.
The CPI for ice cream and related products in November was 233.1, down 1.7 percent from October’s record high but up 0.7 percent from November 2020.
The average retail price for a half gallon of regular ice cream in November was $4.77, down more than 18 cents from October and down almost eight cents from November 2020.
November’s CPI for other dairy and related products was 153.3 (December 1997=100), down 0.2 percent from October but up 1.4 percent from November 2020.
