The March Basic Food Index, which monitors the prices of 20 food products at 14 retail stores, dropped .8% from February’s BFI.
The price of eight food products dropped last month, the biggest of which was the cost of rice which dropped 4.6%
A 5 lb bag of rice sold for $5.24 in February but last month the price dropped to $5. The price of eggs dropped 2.8%. In February a dozen of small eggs cost $2.49 but dropped to $2.42 in March. Other food items which cost less in March than in February were saimin down 1.6%, milk and turkey tails dropped 1.2%, the price of chicken went down .9%, mayonnaise was down .4%, and corned beef dropped .3%
The cost of seven food items increased. The highest increase was the price of sausage which jumped 2.7%. A 16 oz package of Chuck Wagon sausage was $2.23 in February and last month it was $2.29
The price of sugar went up 2.6%. In February a 2 kilogram package of sugar was $3.49 and last month it cost $3.58.
The price of ice cream jumped 2.3%, soda was up .9%, fish up .8%, taro went up .5% and the price of butter went up .3%
Food items whose prices remained the same include water, pork spareribs, banana, tuna and bread.
