As inflation rates fluctuate, consumers continue to grapple with rising prices in various sectors and the dog food industry is no different. Despite a gradual decline in monthly year-over-year (YOY) inflation rates from 2022 in the United States, dog food prices remain a concern as they have become relatively expensive in recent years.
Why is dog food expensive in 2024?
Dog food prices have risen in recent years, with a massive increase of nearly 24% in 2024 compared to January 2021, according to Pet Food Industry. Additionally, when you compare it to January 2019, the spike increases to 26.5%.
One factor that influences pet food prices is producer costs, which are measured by the pet food producer index (PPI). Research by John Gibbons revealed that producer prices for dog food have shown little fluctuation since March 2023.
Stability in producer prices is usually a good thing. However, the continued high level of these costs shows a concerning aspect of the situation.
Is dog food expensive because of inflation?
According to Forbes Advisor, high PPI causes inflation which in turn results in high prices for consumers.
In January, the PPI of pet food decreased slightly to 6.4% year-on-year from 6.6% in December 2023. However, producer costs remained high. In fact, they saw a 28.4% increase from January 2021 and a 30.7% increase from January 2019.
Additionally, prices creep up, especially in the spring months, which can lead to small monthly increases in dog food costs.
In Gibbons’ words, “The 2023 spring PPI increase was lower than in 2022. It also started two months earlier than the 2022 increase and lasted only one month, instead of two.”
In addition, he noted that producer prices tend to remain stable for about eight months. So, with the current stability lasting 10 months, there is a possibility of an increase soon.
