Peak inflation forces companies to consider raising prices

Your grocery bill is likely to increase over the next few months.

Companies like Clorox, Tyson and Kellogg are assessing price increases as raw material, energy and transportation costs rise. That’s not all. More than a dozen S&P companies that sell basic consumer goods say they have raised the price or are ready to do so in order to counter a spike in inflation.

“I expect we will see a surge in inflation because of this. I think once the supply has had to adjust we will see food prices drop a bit, ”said Daniel Hamermesh, retired professor of economics at UT.

Many Americans are already seeing a higher grocery bill as many businesses pass rising commodity costs to consumers. Despite the challenge, Hamermesh is more optimistic about the US economy as a whole in the long run.

“At the very least, the markets are now open. People can go out and buy things, ”he explained. “The inflation that is going to be short term over the next six months is a far cry from what we saw in the much longer term in the late 1970s and early 1980s.”

In the meantime, worries about the recent spike in inflation could end up costing consumers dearly. Several companies, like General Mills, are trying to delay price increases until the fourth quarter.