WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics released CPI data for March 2008, showing food and beverage prices rising at an annualized, seasonally adjusted rate of 5.1 percent for the first three months of 2008. The unadjusted percent change for all food and beverage over the past year is 4.4 percent. This data follows the release of the Producer Price Indexes (PPI) on Monday, which showed that finished food prices are rising at twice the rate of all other finished goods prices.

Scott Faber, vice president for Federal Affairs at the Grocery Manufacturers Association, today released the following statement in response to the release of Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for March 2008:

“Federal food-to-fuel mandates have led to over one quarter of corn to be diverted from food to ethanol production, driving up the price of corn and other commodities to historic highs,” said Faber. “The data released today prove that the result has been devastating for American families: cost of food and beverages have risen and annualized rate of 5% over the first quarter of the year. This is an unsustainable pattern that must be addressed; Congress must re-examine food-to-fuel mandates.

“This new information comes hard on the heels of this month’s PPI data, which reported that the cost of ‘intermediate food’ – such as flour, meat, and prepared animal feed – rose at an annualized seasonally adjusted rate of almost 40% the first three months of the year,” Faber concluded. “These rates will only increase following the USDA’s report that farmers will plant less corn in the coming year. Before these effects spread further across our economy and around the world, Congress should take immediate action by revisiting food-to-fuel mandates.”

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