Affordability Remains a Dairy Strength

Regardless of how one feels about the November elections, one thing that voters said loud and clear was that they don’t like inflation. As data shows, that’s yet another reason to like dairy.

A look at Consumer Price Index data going back to the 2008 financial crisis shows that, compared to overall costs, and particularly to other food and beverages, dairy remains relatively affordable, and is becoming even more so over time. Dairy product prices this fall are roughly the same as they were two years ago, even as overall prices and food and beverage prices are both more than 6 percent higher.

This stability isn’t unusual. Dairy prices rose only 12 percent for the entire decade of the 2010s, helping household budget planning and easing price pressures felt more keenly in other areas of the economy.