Sorry shoppers, food prices are likely to keep rising. Here’s why.

Industry data shows that Americans spend more on food than before pandemic. And in a sign of the times, this is driving up food prices amid the most intense inflationary attack in the United States in 40 years.

“Customer demand continues to outpace our ability to supply products,” Tyson Foods CEO Donnie King said in a quarterly earnings call in February. Tyson’s average sales price during the quarter rose nearly 20% from a year ago, helping the meat company recoup higher costs, including labor and transportation.

Americans pay 10 percent more for food they buy at the grocery store a year ago, and beef prices go up 16 percent, according to federal data.

Taking into account both supermarket and restaurant purchases, food prices in March rose nearly 9% from a year ago amid rising demand over the past year, according to BofA Securities analyst Alexander Lin.

“Americans eat more than they used to in the past, which has restricted retail inventories,” he said in a report.

Lin is also waiting the invasion of Russia of Ukraine to cause “sustained price increases” in the US later this year and until 2023.

While most of what Americans spend on food has more to do with marketing and other non-farm-related expenses, costs are still rising up and down the supply chain, Lin said. .

He cost of agricultural chemicals like fertilizers and pesticides, it has increased by 50% over the last year, with the war in Ukraine increasing the pressure, as Russia is a major exporter of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus fertilizers.

The USDA expects all food prices to rise between 4.5% and 5.5% this year.

Rising energy and transportation costs affect many things, including food. Trucks are the main means of transportation for food, and the industry was already facing a shortage of drivers before the pandemic. Transportation costs have risen during the pandemic.

Another factor driving up food prices is the worst bird flu outbreak since 2015, which is affecting commercial and backyard herds in 29 states, according to a federal count. Egg prices are also rising and the costs of poultry may not be falling behind. The USDA said it now expects poultry prices to rise by 6% to 7% and egg costs to rise from 2.5% to 3.5% this year.

Higher labor costs are another factor, but “companies have regained the power to set prices and feel comfortable passing these costs on to the consumer,” Lin said.

The resulting expansion of corporate margins led to a more negative takeover by a control group, which last week released a report stating that some of the country’s largest retailers had used rising inflation as a disguise to increase prices and profits.