The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for beer at home increased +3.1% year-over-year (YoY) in May, increasing just enough to end six consecutive months of the category posting a CPI reading at or below +3%, before seasonal adjustment, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The CPI for beer at home remained just below inflation for all items, which increased +3.3% before seasonal adjustment. When seasonally adjusted, the CPI for all items was flat, after increasinging +0.3% in April and +0.4% in March.
Beer at home increased +0.5% month-over-month (MoM) when seasonally adjusted, a deceleration from April (+0.7%) but still above March trends (-0.5%).
Beer at home also remained above spirits (+0.6%) and wine (+0.1%) at home, before seasonal adjustment. Spirits at home were flat MoM, after seasonal adjustment, after declining MoM in April (-1%) and March (-0.2%). Wine at home increased +0.1% MoM, after seasonal adjustment, consistent with previous trends (+0.1% in April, -0.1% in March).
Total bev-alc increased +1.7% YoY and +0.1% MoM before seasonal adjustment. Bev-alc at home increased +1.4% YoY and +0.2% MoM, before seasonal adjustment. With seasonal adjustment, total bev-alc increased +0.1% and bev-alc at home increased +0.2%.
Away from home, beer also led YoY CPI increases (+3.1%), before seasonal adjustment, above total bev-alc (+2.2%), spirits (+2.2%) and wine (+2.7%). However, beer recorded a -0.1% MoM decrease in CPI, while total bev-alc, spirits and wine all recorded +0.1% increases.
Similarly, when seasonally adjusted, the CPI for beer away from home decreased -0.1% MoM, after increasing +0.1% in April and +0.4% in March. Total bev-alc, spirits and wine away from home all increased +0.1% MoM when seasonally adjusted.
Off-premise scan data is now caught up through May 19. The average price per case of beer has increased by +$0.55 YTD, to $30.26, in Circana-tracked off-premise channels. In the last four weeks, the average price per cased increased +$0.49 versus the same period in 2023, to $30.40.