Food inflation is here: General Mills will be first to raise cereal prices

I mentioned in this week's The End Time in an essay I'd written about food inflation, and that the costs haven't been passed on to the consumer yet. That article is here: click here. I'd posted: "The report highlights how despite cotton rising by 54%, corn rising by 29%, soybeans rising by 22%, orange juice rising by 17%, and sugar rising by 51% during the months of September and October alone, these huge commodity price increases have yet to make their way into America's grocery stores because corporations have been reluctant to pass these price increases along to the consumer. In today's dismal economy, no retailer wants to be the first to dramatically raise food prices."

That was last week.

It seems that General Mills will be the first to raise those prices, reluctantly. The CEO's savvy business knowledge is probably right on: it won't be long before all the cereal companies raise their prices, following General Mills' lead. The difference int he CPI and the CI is startling. That gap has to close sometime. The article below from Bloomberg and the chart below shows where we are headed. Cereal prices are set to increase Monday.

Bloomberg: Eat your Wheaties before next month,  General Mills Signals Faster U.S. Food Inflation: Chart of the Day

The blue line is the Commodity Index, what it costs to make the food from the raw commodity. The red line is the Consumer Price Index, the prices the consumers have been paying. There's quite a gap.

"General Mills Inc. showed where U.S. food prices are headed by making some of its breakfast cereals and baking products more expensive, according to Christopher Growe, a Stifel Nicolaus Co. analyst.  As the CHART OF THE DAY shows, retail prices for food are lower than they were in May though the cost of farm commodities has soared. The food component of the U.S. consumer price index and a gauge of agricultural-product prices, compiled by UBS AG and Bloomberg, were used to make the comparison.  General Mills, the maker of Cheerios, Chex and Wheaties, will raise cereal prices on Nov. 15. The increase will affect about 25 percent of its cereal production and amount to a “low single-digit” percentage, Kirstie Foster, a company spokeswoman, wrote today in an e-mail. “While General Mills may be the first of the large food companies to really press higher on pricing, we believe many others may follow,” Growe wrote. “It’s just a matter of time, given what is coming down the pike in the way of inflation.”

Rev 6:6 is not far behind. "Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!” And Rev 6:8, the famine: I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth."

Repent. That's all there is to it. Repent, or die. (Rev 2:5; 16)

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