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FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Marketbasket Prices Increase During Second Quarter
Prices in supermarkets across Kentucky inched up slightly
during the second quarter of 2004, according to the Kentucky Farm Bureau's
July survey of food costs. The latest informal survey shows a 4% increase
in selected grocery items from last quarter.
Kentuckians paid $96.26 for 40 selected items during the
second quarter of this year, the highest average recorded in the 25-year
history of the Marketbasket survey. The $3.61 hike from last quarter's
$92.65 average also marked fifteen consecutive months of increases in
the average price.
Dairy products were the biggest contributor to the hike
in the overall Marketbasket average, increasing 14%. However, data from
the Southeast United Dairy Industry Association (SUDIA), a dairy farmer-funded
product promotion organization, says that dairy farmers are today being
paid essentially the same price for milk that they were paid during the
1970's.
Unlike most other businesses, dairy farmers cannot directly
pass on production costs. Farmers get just 43 cents for every dollar a
consumer spends on packaged milk, according to a USDA estimate -- and
they get even less of the consumer dollar for other dairy products like
cheese and butter.
Fruits and vegetables, as well as pork, also experienced
sharp increases, 8.30% and 7.60%, respectively. Grain-based foods dropped
4.5%, accounting for the only decline on the survey.
Communities surveyed were Bardstown, Dry Ridge, Greensburg,
Harrodsburg, Marion, Morganfield, Salyersville and Somerset.
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