The Bureau of Labor Statistics Denies Removing Coffee from Consumer Price Index Review
Food prices, including coffee, are still much higher after 2021…and shrinkflation is a factor impacting prices.
The last time I covered the subject of coffee, “experts” tried to gin up fears about caffeine addiction.
It turns out that three out of four Americans drink coffee daily, and over a third enjoy 3-5 cups each day. To say coffee is a staple of the national diet is no understatement.
Coffee ties into some recent news released about the Biden administration today. New Consumer Price Index data was just released, resulting in a positive jolt to the stock market.
Global stock markets rose to record highs while U.S. Treasury yields and the U.S. dollar fell on Wednesday as data showed U.S. consumer prices rose less than expected in April, suggesting inflation has resumed a downward trend in the second quarter.
The CPI report raised expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates two times this year.
The Dow and S&P 500 registered record closing highs for the first time since March 28 and the Nasdaq posted a record closing high for the second session in a row, while the MSCI world stock index was also set for a second straight record high close.
Team Biden is desperately trying to change the inflation narrative by highlighting the fact that food prices are not rising. However, pretty much everything else is costing more.
Consumer inflation remained persistently high last month, boosted by gas, rents, auto insurance and other items, the government said Wednesday in a report that will likely give pause to the Federal Reserve as it considers how often — or even whether — to cut interest rates this year.
Prices outside the volatile food and energy categories rose 0.4% from February to March, the same accelerated pace as in the previous month. Measured from a year earlier, these core prices are up 3.8%, unchanged from the year-over-year rise in February. The Fed closely tracks core prices because they tend to provide a good read of where inflation is headed.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), commonly purchased items such as breakfast cereal, milk, coffee, chicken, wine, full service meals and snacks are used in the analysis. As the new CPI report was discussed, rumors that coffee was removed from the analysis began to spread.
Clearly, not many Americans trust the “science” offered by officials of the current administration.
The BLS strongly denied the removal, indicating certain-sized packaging was no longer being used.
BLS is not removing coffee from the Consumer Price Index. Because of changes in the way items (such as coffee) are packaged, we sometimes discontinue specific package size categories. Indexes and average price data for coffee are still being published. https://t.co/lpIwj3VPOe
— BLS-Labor Statistics (@BLS_gov) May 14, 2024
A fun, new word is being used to describe the phenomenon of making packages smaller to keep prices the same.
Shrinkflation is offset by hedonically better coffee, amirite?
— WC Varones (@wcvarones) May 14, 2024
It would not surprise me in the least if Biden’s BLS didn’t shrink the package for the analysis used on other staples as well, resulting in the halt to food price increases that the administration is now promoting in the media.
I thought “shrinkflation” was Biden’s enemy. Maybe it’s more like a frenemy.
A graph showing the rapid escalation in coffee prices since 2021 is dark and bitter.
The CPI overview for coffee, looking at the last 10 years, is dark and bitter…exploding for some reason around 2021. pic.twitter.com/SNq5EGZDMk
— Leslie Eastman ☥ (@Mutnodjmet) May 16, 2024
And coffee prices don’t look like they aren’t going down soon.
Over the past few years, many coffee traders and roasters will have certainly noticed that the price of robusta has been steadily increasing. In October 2021, prices reached a ten-year high as a result of shipping container shortages – meaning they had risen for the sixth consecutive year.
Fast forward to June 2023, the International Coffee Organisation reported that the average price for robusta had increased by 7.8% to 132.12 US cents/lb – representing a 28-year high. As of late January 2024, prices have been increasing week on week – and have now reached the highest level in 29 years.
It’s safe to say that the price of robusta isn’t going to fall anytime soon. And with interest in fine robusta growing in recent years, is the increase purely a result of rising demand? Or is there more to unpack? Moreover, what impact could we see on the wider coffee industry?
Biden shouldn’t gaslight Americans this much, if he is so opposed to fossil fuels.
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Comments
Removing (or even decaffeinating) coffee should be a capital offense… 🙂
And robusta?? Who drinks robusta? We are an arabica country!
I bet they could offset much of Bidenflation by counting the savagely cut prices of Bud Light gender fluid.
Biden Administration: “We only count coffee in the CPI if it is sold in 25 pound bags.”
Joe grew up in a coffee bean field.
I heard Biden had to carry 50 pound bags of coffee beans down the mountain side and load them into a truck, then walk back up hill for another one.
Juan Valdez must have been a mean ass boss.
And that was back when the only cartel he kowtowed to was the coffee cartel.
All I know is that the plastic container of Folgers we buy is much more expensive under Brandon than Trump.
The Senile Hair Sniffer and his sychophants can spin as hard as they want but anyone who goes into a grocery store or Walmart knows prices are higher by a lot.
$10.99 Ribeye is now $14.99
$17.99 Gal of oil is $21.00
$3.50 bread now $4.50
Standard Waffle House breakfast now over $20.00
Car insurance up 30%
House Insurance jumped 50%
House Paint now $50 gal
Bag of mulch went from $5.99 to $9.99.
OSB 1/2in sheathing has doubled in price.
Everyone knows prices are skyrocketing.
Several months ago, a certain brand of toilet paper went from requiring 4 squares for a good wipe to requiring 5. (Don’t ask me how I know.) This persisted for a while, and then went back to normal. I suspect people complained of what was probably a special type of shrinkflation the seller hoped would go unnoticed. (Also, look at the span of the toilet paper dispenser in your bathroom and compare it to the current width of of a roll. TP has been shrinking for years, along with the amount of food in certain canned goods.)
I have a farm and buy a lot of hardware, heavy duty shelving, building supplies and much more. Overall, prices have doubled over 3 years and I am paying for the stuff with deflated dollars.
It is good to know pure science has not been dropped by the wayside!
If it was white paper (preferred for septic tanks), then you are racist though…
If you use any “old” recipies that begin with a boxed cake mix, you have to buy two boxes and do a bit of extra measuring – because the box mixes went from 20 oz to 18 oz to 16 oz to 13.5 oz….
TP manufacturers have also made “mega” rolls the only thing they sell, which are really annoying because they’re too darn thick to fit properly in standard dispensers. Pulling on the roll tends to cause rips until the roll is sufficiently well used.
You must live in a blue state. This is definitely not happening in my red state where I live. Maybe you should move.
BS
Yes, its just JR’s bullshit. Inflation (and shrinkflation) are not local phenomena.
LOL. Like you actually live in a red state, dingus.
Pull the other one, it’s got bells on it.
Yeah…no. Not in a blue state.
A visit to shadowstats.com is worth checking out. They apply the older versions of CPI components to demonstrate the differences between what the ‘new’ CPI inflation rate is v some of the older versions if the same components of CPI index were still included. Very big difference.
Thank God for caffeine pills!
I know, right!
We need shrinkflation applied to the government.
Give us a government with fewer departments creating rules and regulations!!
Caffeine is a great hunger suppressant for people on a fat-loss diet. Of course, as long as you don’t insanely overconsume it.
How much coffee do you have to drink to hurt yourself? Seems like it must be an incredible amount.
Still researching that…
Age is also a critical factor. Young teenagers (read: Starbucks run! and Celsius/Monster drinks) are getting doses that are too high before they are finished developing. It is leading to an increase in neuroses (anxiety/depression/bipolar), high blood pressure, and sometimes arrhythmias.
Actually surprisingly little. The LD50 for caffeine, as a multiple of the normal dose, is a relatively small number compared to that for most commonly available food substances. I don’t know the exact number, but I remember reading about 30 years ago that it was in the low double digits, and that you could do yourself some significant harm with as few as 10 vivarin.
I love the smell of cooked ledgers in DC.
It smells like insurrection is coming.
Do they think we will not notice inflation if they show us enough graphs?
You have to be in the upper tier of earners so that tripling of food prices and doubling of insurance premiums doesn’t effect you.
But even they will feel the hurt of higher mortgage costs in that $2 million dollar cottage they crave.
I suspect the Feds stopped measuring the 12 to 16 ounce packages in favor of the 2.5 to 3 pound cans, usually bulk coffee often institution purchased. By the converting to cost per ounce, the measured value would signal deflation. These tricks are taught in good economics and statistics programs in the few remaining real colleges.
All I know is that the 2 pound packages of our favorite Colombian roasted coffee beans that we buy every 2 months on Amazon and grind every morning for breakfast, have increased $1 dollar from last year. I think you guys are buying your coffee from Starbucks.
2 pounds lasts you 2 months? Not a coffee drinker, I take it.
Dem KoolAid drinker.
The Democrats have made their brand on telling laughable lies to stupid people for decades.
However you can’t lie to even a stupid person about their grocery bill. EVERYBODY has to eat.
Telling lies for decades?
Democrats have been lying to blacks for more than a century!
Sure you can. You just explain to them how paying more is virtuous.
Haven’t you heard of fair trade? Minimum wage? Carbon credits?
The great fools eat that shit up.
the left, after successfully stealing the 2020 election, know that they are untouchable especially with the help of the rinos
when they finally get enough of the military under their dei control
the moat will have been breached
BLS is not removing coffee from the Consumer Price Index. Blah blah blah.
Right. Now explain to us how “employed” and “unemployed” are defined by this government when they are reporting those pencil whipped statistics.
Can anyone explain what “fine robusta” is?
I thought any coffee made with robusta beans tasted like heated infusion of straw.
WEF wants to do away with coffee.