foodreview 2 food prices m any consumers remember the wild price fluctu ations in 1973 and 1974 when climbed almost 15 per cent each year several factors led to sharp increases high energy a general inflation rate reduced supplies of domesti cally produced corn wheat tight grain record occurred 1996 some analysts automatically forecasted significantly larger overall but today s situation is very different from 74 so spike due did not occur rose modest 3 percent continuing fairly stable trend annual since 1992 fig 1 us are probably more alert changes than most other because for items vary seasonally we buy frequently commit monthly pay ments rent or house mortgage car household appliances view these infrequently purchased as fixed costs on hand purchase often generally cash
