Inflation: Americans Will Be Paying More To Eat

Inflation worries continue. If the comments from companies during the last three days is any indication, Americans will be spending significantly more for food in the near future, due to significantly higher costs for corn, soybeans, sugar, and cocoa.

Consider:

1) Kellogghas announced they are raising prices.

2) Kraft said dairy costs have increased 40 percent, and they are raising prices.

3) Tyson said they will raise prices "substantially."

4) Pilgrim's PrideCEO Ken Pilgrim said that feed ingredient costs in fiscal 2008 will be $700 million more than fiscal 2007.

4) Hershey said they will raise prices on their main candy bar 13 percent.

5) Sysco said it had been seeing unusually high food costs 3 quarters.

It's not just food costs: Black and Decker said their margins were down on higher costs.

The solution for these companies? Raise prices, if you can. U.S. Steel said they are expecting costs to rise due to higher raw material costs, though they expect to be able to charge higher prices.

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