The price surge has changed shoppers’ expectations, and many are beginning to settle at a much higher cost, but it’s reluctant. Consumers say the average price of eggs is $5.56, the market research firm’s president rose sharply last month from $4.90 in January.
“The increased willingness to pay over the past few months indicates that consumers are consciously or unconsciously accustomed to rising egg prices,” the researchers said.
And it’s not just eggs. Many shoppers are becoming brave to pay more for groceries overall as they shift their focus to cover essentials.
A study by consulting firm KPMG released in late April shows that many people plan to organize their spending this summer on everything from clothing and furniture to travel. Grocery was one of two categories that shoppers say they spend more.
“We’ve moved from background noise for consumers to the forefront and centers. “Shoppers are more price-sensitive than ever, and many are directly linking rising costs to tariffs,” KPMG’s consumer and retail tax leader Heather Rice said in a statement in the results.
Consumer sentiment has recently hit its lowest level in 12 years in a closely monitored conference committee survey, as more households are anticipating inflationary climbs this year. Annual consumer prices rises have been recorded at 2.4% in March, down from 2.8% the previous month, before President Donald Trump significantly expanded the World Trade War in April.
Many shoppers are already competing to scooped up foreign-made goods, including big debts such as cars and trucks, in order to preempt import taxes on a wide range of products.
The White House promoted progress towards a new trade deal with the UK on Thursday, with Trump repeatedly claiming that “almost every expense” including eggs and other groceries fell on his watch. However, despite revisions, walkbacks and delays to various parts of his trade agenda, the president’s tariffs have already made many products more expensive than this year.
Both NIQ and federal inflation data show continuous price increases across the general purchase range. Corporate executives have warned that there remains a lot of uncertainty about how Trump’s evolving policies will shake up across the consumer economy, and have already warned of potential price increases this year.
In the meantime, many sticker prices in supermarket refrigerated aisles have been ticking, with 2% and 1% of ground beef from the latest NIQ data for four weeks. Beef prices have increased by almost 10% compared to the previous year, while egg prices have increased by nearly 50%.
But not everything is becoming more expensive. Among the staples investigated, the prices of bacon and orange juice have fallen.
Prices for many meat and dairy products could continue to shake up, depending on the course of Trump’s trade war.
For example, the US is a major pork producer and exports about a fifth of its meat overseas, says Michael Swanson, chief agricultural economist at the Wells Fargo Agrifood Institute. Approximately 15% of both US chicken and dairy products are shipped overseas. This is a situation where retaliatory tariffs in other countries are currently being threatened.
“If these three (product categories) were unable to find these export markets due to tariff actions, people would simply force the US to keep the product home because they weren’t buying,” Swanson said.
That’s welcome news for consumers, but not for farmers. Agricultural exporters have already issued warnings of a “full crisis” as foreign buyers pull back their purchases. Chinese importers recently stopped delivering 12,000 tonnes of American pork, the biggest cancellation since 2020.
For now, Swanson said: “If you expand a trade dispute, in reality, there is more risk than inflation in some categories, in some categories.”
It remains a big “what if” as the Trump administration is angled for a trade deal with Beijing, while publicly signaling the hardline of talks. Until the armistice brokered, China still faces an effective US tariff rate of 145%, fighting back against its own obligations of up to 125%.
When it comes to produce, Swanson said, “Chinese buys more than they actually buy from us, so they have the ability to put pressure on us.”