Grocery inflation moved up in December 2025 after losing momentum the month before, with prices for meat and coffee playing an outsize role in the increase.
Meat prices were up at a yearly clip of 9.2% last month, continuing a multimonth upward trend. Inflation for the commodity came in at just under 9% in November, compared with 8.5% in September and 7.3% in August, according to Consumer Price Index data compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Beef and veal prices, which have been on the rise for months, were up sharply last month, rising at an annual rate of 16.4%, up from 15.8% in November and 14.7% in September.
Costs for uncooked beef steaks rose even faster last month, increasing at an annual rate of just under 18% compared with 14.7% in November and 16.6% in September.
Grocery inflation in December moved up to an annual pace of 2.4% from 1.9% during the prior month, while across-the-board inflation held steady last month at 2.7%. The BLS did not release inflation statistics for October because of the federal government shutdown.
Coffee prices took the prize as the BLS food category that experienced the most inflation in December. Prices for the commodity — which the U.S. mostly imports — rose nearly 20% year over year last month, up by a full percentage point over the rate in November. By comparison, coffee inflation came in at 13.4% in June.
Egg prices, on the other hand, continued to decline markedly in December. Prices for the food, which galloped ahead by double digits during the first half of 2025, were down at a yearly pace of almost 21% in December.
