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The American Union is getting ready to celebrate a long-standing tradition that is very important to the nation’s society, the Thanksgiving dinner. This year, as a result of the control of new Covid-19 infections in the country, families have planned meetings like those experienced in the days before the pandemic. However, amid the joy and excitement, high inflation has forced citizens to adjust their finances.
During the month of October, the United States registered an interannual inflation rate of 7.7%, a figure that reflects a reduction in the indicator if the 8.2% in September is taken into account.
Despite the decrease, the figure continues to be above the worst data in 40 years. The causes respond to various factors such as problems in the supply chain, the war in Ukraine and the inconvenience faced by farmers and ranchers due to high fuel prices.
According to the ‘Farm Bureau’, a US lobbying group that represents the agricultural industry, the prices of the products of the Thanksgiving dinner components rose 20% in 2022 compared to 2021. It is worth saying that the last year the ingredients and elements for the celebration had shown an increase of 14%.
Roger Cryan, head of Economy of the aforementioned federation, told the EFE news agency that this is the largest annual increase in the average cost of meals for these festivities “with a little more than 10 dollars of difference.” On the other hand, turkey, the central element of the table, was the product that increased the most in price with 21% or the equivalent of a variation of $4.97.
On the eve of the celebration, the authorities had indicated that the increase in the price of the products could be around between 9.5 and 10.5%, according to data from the AP news agency, while the chain of ‘Al-Jazeera’ news cites data from the Consumer Price Index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that place the increase at 13%.
Consumers raise alternatives for dinner
In the midst of the rise in prices, consumers have proposed strategies to comply with dinner and reduce the impact on household finances. US media point out that some households divided the purchase of the ingredients among the guests.
On the other hand, the EFE news agency points out that various customers have doubts about buying turkey for dinner.
Additionally, ‘Al-Jazeera’ also highlighted that, at a general level, the high price of food has increased assistance to food banks.
In this sense, ‘Feeding America’, a nonprofit network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries, found that 90% of establishments reported increased demand for supplies in 2022 due to rising prices.
Cynthia Cumming, 65, a food pantry manager at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in West Orange, New Jersey, points out that in some homes, in addition to rising prices, food portions are being Have reduced.
With EFE and AP
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