American families will have to ‘scratch’ their pockets more than usual to celebrate this year the traditional ‘Thanksgiving Day’ dinner, since the average price of the usual menu on this holiday has increased by 13.7% compared to the last year, which is the highest year-on-year increase since at least 1986, according to data provided by the American Farmers Federation (AFBF).
In this way, the cost of the feast, which will bring American families around the table this Thursday, has been placed at 53.31 dollars (47.52 euros) in the case of a dinner for ten people, which means a cost of less than $ 6 per person, compared to the cost of $ 46.90 (41.80 euros) for dinner last year.
The ‘lobby’ of American farmers and ranchers, whose statistics date back to 1986, highlights that the main factor behind this record rise in the cost of dinner is the 23.7% increase in the price of turkey, a key element of the feast , which has reached $ 23.99 for a 16-pound piece, up from $ 19.39 in 2020.
“Several factors contributed to the increase in the average cost of Thanksgiving dinner this year,” said Veronica Nigh, senior economist at AFBF, referring to the impact on prices of disruptions in the economy and supply chains of the country during the last 20 months, as well as by inflationary pressure, the difficulty to predict demand during the pandemic and a high global demand for food.
In addition, the economist noted, “the trend of consumers to cook and eat at home more frequently due to the pandemic has led to increased demand in supermarkets and an increase in retail food prices in 2020 and 2021, compared to pre-pandemic prices in 2019. “
The US markets will remain closed this Thursday for Thanksgiving and this Friday, coinciding with ‘Black Friday’, they will only open half a session.
The consumer price index (CPI) of the United States stood at 6.2% last October, which represents an increase of eight tenths compared to September and the highest rate registered in the country since November 1990.
Food prices experienced an annual increase of 5.3% in the tenth month of the year, seven tenths more than in the previous month. On its side, inflation shot up 30%, from 24.8% in September.
Thus, without taking into account the impact of energy and food prices, the core inflation rate in the United States stood at 4.6%, six tenths more than the previous month.
In monthly terms, inflation grew 0.9% in October, compared to the 0.4% observed in September. The underlying data rose 0.6%, four tenths more than in the previous month.
