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Food inflation rose in December 2025 after losing momentum a month earlier, with meat and coffee prices playing a large role in the rise.
Last month, meat prices rose 9.2% annually, continuing an upward trend for several months. Consumer price index data compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed commodity inflation was less than 9% in November, compared with 8.5% in September and 7.3% in August.
Beef and veal prices, which have been on the rise for several months, rose at an annual rate of 16.4% last month, compared to 15.8% in November and 14.7% in September.
Raw beef steak costs rose much faster last month, growing at an annual rate of less than 18% compared to 14.7% in November and 16.6% in September.
Food inflation rose to an annualized 2.4% in December from 1.9% the previous month, while overall inflation remained stable at 2.7% last month. The BLS did not release inflation statistics for October due to the federal government shutdown.
Coffee at an Amazon Fresh store in Gaithersburg, Maryland, January 15, 2026. Prices for the commodity rose at a rapid annual pace in December 2025.
Sam Silverstein/Grocery Dive
Coffee prices ranked as the BLS food category that experienced the highest inflation in December. Prices for raw materials primarily imported by the U.S. rose nearly 20% last month compared to a year earlier, up 1 percentage point from November prices. In comparison, coffee inflation in June was 13.4%.
On the other hand, egg prices continued their notable decline in December. Food prices, which had surged by double digits in the first half of 2025, fell at an annual rate of nearly 21% in December.
