Increasing prices is “the last lever we have,” said Campbell’s CFO Todd Cunfer.
Food Industry Warns of Price Hikes
Bloomberg reports From Campbell’s to Conagra, Food Industry Warns of Price Hikes
Conagra Brands Inc. has told retailers to expect increases on products including Healthy Choice and Banquet frozen dinners. Campbell’s Co. said it plans to raise prices by 4% to 5% on roughly 60% of its products, mostly meals and snacks. Spice and condiment maker McCormick & Co. has said it expects higher prices, which were already implemented earlier this year, to bolster results in the second half of 2026.
Food and grocery companies’ efforts to keep prices down are sputtering following a sustained rise in energy and fertilizer costs along with tariffs on imports. On top of this, the El Niño weather pattern is on track to become the most powerful of the past 76 years — potentially putting even more pressure on prices if severe weather damages harvests and disrupts trade.
Increasing prices is “the last lever we have,” Campbell’s Chief Financial Officer Todd Cunfer said this week at the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference. Cost-cutting measures couldn’t keep up, he added: “Unfortunately, that was not enough given the extreme amount of inflation that we are seeing right now.”
Also on Friday, Kroger Co., one of the biggest US supermarket operators, cut its sales forecast, warning that the volume of items sold has slowed since the start of the year. The company also said it expects inflationary pressures to mount, putting additional strain on shoppers.
Conagra, which makes Birds Eye frozen vegetables and Marie Callender’s meals, has told retailers it will raise prices on a range of goods effective late September, according to memos viewed by Bloomberg News.
“The magnitude of sustained increases in input costs, including packaging and ingredients” is significant, Chief Customer Officer Derek De La Mater wrote to retail customers in a recent memo. Absorbing these costs isn’t sustainable, he said, adding that price increases are needed in part to maintain profit margins.
Kraft Heinz Chief Financial Officer Andre Maciel hit a similar note. The maker of Oscar Mayer hot dogs and Classico pasta sauce is trying to keep price increases “as minimum as possible.” But “if you see the whole market moving because in some categories there will be significant inflation pressure, we will just go along,” he said.
Clorox Co. which makes Hidden Valley ranch dressing, said this week it’s raising prices on its food, as well as Glad trash bags and some cleaning products.
CPI Food at Home vs Away from Home Year-Over-Year
- CPI: 3.4 percent
- Food Away from Home: 3.4 percent
- Food at Home: 2.2 percent
- Food: 2.7 percent
CPI and PPI Beef Components Index Level
Since pre-Covid the index for ground beef has gone up from 299.6 to a record 536.7.
That’s a gain of 79.1 percent.
CPI Ground Beef Price per Pound vs PPI Slaughter Cows
Price Changes
- Pre-Covid to Now: 3.87 to 6.92 up 78.8 percent
- Biden Years: 3.95 to 5.61 (4 years) up 42.0 percent
- Trump Years: 5.61 to 6.92 (1 year, 8 months) up 23.4 percent
Given the time difference, the price of beef is not favorable to Trump. But it’s also cherry picking one of the worst items for Trump.
The lead chart is a much better representation of food inflation under Biden vs Trump.
Ironic Whataboutism
Highest Levels
A Bit of a Problem
The Diesel Relation
Trump, not Biden, is responsible for the idiotic war in Iran. Food is the least of the inflation problem, but it adds to the misery, and is seen every day.
Republicans own the war, the price of gasoline, the price of diesel, oil-related and tariff-related price hikes.
Blaming everything on Biden is a losing election tactic, but it’s all Trump has.
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Obesity Crisis – solved!
Uh Oh!
WTI is testing $103/bbl again?
A breakout to Bush’s $200 fantasy level is looking possible.
Inflation? You ain’t seen nothing kiddies!
An amusing history of Campbell’s Tomato Soup prices.
https://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-price-history-of-campbells-tomato.html
Trump can cut the tariff’s on 300,000 metric tons of mystery soup ingredients. Not poop, but stuff that sort of looks like poop.
Campbells is out of their mind. They best hope roughly 60% of the workforce, gets 4%-5% Raises then!
Do they also think there Customers, who they just shafted and will lose a great deal of them imo, didn’t have rising energy cost, and ingredient cost? Are they truly this foolish?
I got a much better idea. Your primarily a Union Company, so give an across the board 5% “Decrease In Pay”
They can’t leave, and wouldn’t anyway for that small sum. They are set in there ways, and may complain, but toss in a buyout and that solves that issue.
Think big now, or lose a chunk of your company, and a lot of money, and then have to do it anyway, due to low sales, and all the rising cost.
The blame is on Trump not Campbells. Costs go up and at some point it has to be passed on. If wages go up that will get passed on as well. It is not just Campbells everyone will be raising their prices to keep up with the additional costs in fuel and tariffs all due to Trump’s asinine policies. Eventually workers will need to have raises in order to afford these additional costs and prices will go up further.
Campbells has to make a profit or it will face the wrath of its shareholders.
You can place blame all day long, but that doesn’t solve the problem. The problem is cost, and ability to pay that cost. Campbells soup isn’t anything special, that you can make very easily at home. These prices will drive away business, as it’s replaced at home. A big soup can last awhile for short money.
In order to be able to maintain cost of employees, doing business, inflation, etc. the Unions will have to, IMO, take cuts. I am including Auto Manufacturers etc. Everywhere and all of them that can survive the cuts, which is most.
True, things will have to change as well. Like getting ones own care, and take a cut in overall pay, but little dues, no extra payments for anything as well. It will have to be done, and especially now as we enter more of an age of less wealthy countries, but with well educated people, and skilled services of all sorts, that we will desire here.
You must build the community in a new way, with lower cost, fewer benefits, but some breaks as they wind them down to be able to compete moving forward. I come from a line of Union workers, before I was born, but my Dad and Uncles were too. I know what they are like and about.
Investor’s / shareholders etc. will have to accept less back, don’t grumble or the baby gets thrown out with the bath water. These changes are c9ming and it’s not by choice, but for survival imo.
Good luck out there…
Wow, here we are. So you advocate that basically whole country should accept pay cut (small potato) to contain inflation.
I think it is just easier to vote blue, impeach Trump, finally release Epstein files that are main reason for this whole mess. Instead of whole country suffering for one man, maybe it is just enough to oust that person and let rest of society to live proper live. Trump family has already like 3B, you want then to earn another 3B next year instead of help fellow Americans?
That I would say is small potato indeed.
I think you need to relax a bit. Trump actions is all about his legacy. but lets be honest, when this administration is gone and this will be reviewed, do you really thing America want pedophile name on any federal building or property. This will be strapped one way or the other.once Epstein files are finally out there fully.
– So you advocate that basically whole country should accept pay cut (small potato) to contain inflation. > No, I said Unions are going to have to cut pay and benefits to compete moving forward. The lopsided pay and benefits for the work being done, will not cut it any longer. It’s just factual representation of pay for performance.
– I think it is just easier to vote blue > If you want sheer and utter destruction of the Country, sure…- impeach Trump, > Not happening. – finally release Epstein files that are main reason for this whole mess. > The Dems would never hold office again, if that info all got out.
– Instead of whole country suffering for one man, maybe it is just enough to oust that person and let rest of society to live proper live. Trump family has already like 3B, you want then to earn another 3B next year instead of help fellow Americans? > If only life was that simple, that you could erase one person, and have the World Change… Not reality, and not happening either.
– I think you need to relax a bit. > I think we need massive cuts in Unions and other areas where pay doesn’t meet performance. We also have electronics that can do many of the jobs, but they are not allowed, and we also have EV’s so which require Far, Far Less of work, and commensurate pay will be 1/5 or so, of what it is today, once they arrive completely!
– Trump actions is all about his legacy. > So has every other President’s actions…
Have you looked at the price of fresh tomatoes lately? A very important ingredient in tomato soup
Yes, I grow them inside, and they are extremely reasonable. Buy the cheap plant, water it every other day, pick your tomatoes and eat them. Not rocket science.
Or get rid of the clown in the White House
Not going to happen. Even If he were to die of natural causes, it’s likely he would finish his current term in office. Maybe even run for a 3rd term.
The World is changing and Trump is an ant in the scheme of things, in just over a year he is a lame duck at best…
Stu you must really hate the blue collar class with a take like yours above. Might want to apply for a job in the Trump admin.
I disdain politics!
I love blue collar, and so does my entire family, going back generations. We all worked blue collar and Union jobs, and many in the family still do.
Higher food prices and lower equities prices … An equity valuation fractal comparison between the SPX 20 Feb 1928 to 3 Sept 1929 blow-off and the 13 Nov 1929 initial crash – to the 7 April 2025 to 13-14 Aug 2026 blow-off and the 15-23 Oct 2026 Initial Crash … http://www.economicfractalist.com/
They also own the stupid Trump tax cuts. As to the rest, who cares about food prices, buy AI! AI is all that matters! Conagra will fill their bags of food with AI instead of air so that people stop whining about shrinkflation! AI AI AI!
Whether the Dems can fix it or not (and I have no hopes from here), if the US voter is too stupid to punish these idiots. there is no corrective feedback in the system. We are lost. It would be the ultimate victory of those malicious spirits willing to suffer, if only they can see others suffer more.
Yeah pretty stupid but with gerrymandering ( operation red map and such. Team red has skewed the system more in their favor. That will be around long after trump leaves office.
But they see the writing on the wall. Their base is dying / people are waking up to their policies dont work for average republicans. /
The smaller voting base is what all this voter suppression is about. Since conservative media cant hold them
I think gerrymandering is mostly a tossup except Florida.
Call it net 4-6 for Republicans. If Illinois struck back with more, it would have been a wash.
The put Madigan in prison too soon to work his map magic again.
Yeah on national level out come. . Its been a while since i read the article. If i recall correctly.. Operation red map maybe 15 years ago set power at the state level. Allowing for the more extreme gerrymandering by the republicans. Kind of locked power in at the state level giving state super majorities where there might not be one. Prob helped with republican judges and ag etc. The push at the local level for election officials and such seems to be the latest. Think the dems might be working on that keep getting adds from conan oBrian wanting money for some election integrity outfit.
I think trumps strategy is to use the post office in the dems states as more of a distraction. Then in the areas where the races may be closer. He will use election officials/ politicians and conservative judges to swing the totals. Well see how the system holds up.
Between iran and the midterms its gonna get ugly. Your gonna have your hands full trying to post articles on everything. Better get your hiking in now before things get to crazy.
Young conservatives, in particular, appeared to have all but abandoned the project, leaving behind a graying bunch
https://unherd.com/2026/09/trumps-boomer-palooza/?set_edition=us&tl_inbound=1&tl_groups%5B0%5D=18743&tl_period_type=3&utm_source=UnHerd+Today&utm_campaign=e6982ba0d8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_09_12_09_38&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_79fd0df946-e6982ba0d8-36096477
“It would be the ultimate victory of those malicious spirits willing to suffer, if only they can see others suffer more.”
It’s the culture of the old south: “I may be dirt poor, but at least I’m white”. It’s why the GOP controls the South.
Taco probably owns stock in both of them.
If people do not vote the GOP out of office this November, they deserve every ounce of inflation that’s coming their way. They own the energy crisis and the exploding debt problem.
And you expect the Democrats to rein in spending?
Not really. Its a long shot but way better odds. The republicans def are not gonna do it.
The >2.4 trillion Trump plans on borrowing in fiscal 2027? Lol.
Nope, but maybe the American people will get something out of it instead of using our money to kill Iranians.
The lying GOP deserves to be turned out for the even worse Dems. But don’t kid yourself that it will make more than an iota of difference.
ending war and lifting tariffs fixes all these issues. your attempt to “both sides” is simply partisan ship if you choose to ignore the role of tariff and wars
way to blame the victim instead of the system. for decades when dems are in office, people get poorer, things get more expensive, and corporations become richer than ever.
Even if it’s irrational, the repubs at least give the poor broke people a reason for how bad things: immigrants, dems, wellfare queens, not having christ in christmas,etc..
The democrats tell people they just feel bad. Of course people are going to vote repubs, even if it’s obvious the repubs are lying.
We also live in a two party first past the post system. Blaming voters, is like blaming a woman for being beaten if the dinner is cold.
Any party that f***s up egregiously deserves to punished. In 2026, that’s the Republicans.
One might think that the Hormuz sqeeze on fertilizers might not yet be factored into food prices in N. America. But should impinge on the fall crops.
“For the rest of the year”
Reminds me of the Mitch Headberg bit:
”I used to do drugs. I still do drugs, but I used to.”
I like the line from a Kid Rock song: “I don’t do drugs any more…or any less”
Geez, Clorox owns Hidden-Valley Ranch? Sounds like a terrible combination.
How do you think they keep that buttermilk from curdling
😄
Yes I was not aware of that one either