Overall inflation held steady in August, but the cost of going out for drinks continued to rise more sharply than stocking the home bar, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The CPI for all items increased 3.4% year-over-year (YoY) last month, which was flat to July. Total beverage-alcohol’s CPI rose by less than half that rate (+1.6% YoY), but increases were not distributed evenly between the on- and off-premise.
Alcohol away from home increased 3%, led by the CPI for spirits away from home (+3.4%). The CPI for beer away from home increased 2.8% YoY, followed by wine (+2%).
In addition to rising alcohol costs in the on-premise, food away from home also increased 3.4% in August. The CPI for meals at full-service restaurants increased 3.5%.
At home, wine (-1.1%) and spirits (-0.7%) recorded declines.
Beer at home was the outlier with a 2.4% increase, offsetting wine and spirits’ decreases to land the overall category at +0.2%.
Month-over-month (MoM) changes were smaller than those in July. Spirits at home recorded the only MoM decline (-0.3%), perhaps a correction from July’s 0.6% MoM increase.
Beer and spirits away from home were flat MoM. The remaining metrics all posted MoM increases:
- Total alcohol +0.1%;
- Alcohol at home, +0.1%;
- Beer at home, +0.2%;
- Wine at home, +0.3%;
- Alcohol away from home, +0.1%;
- Wine away from home +0.1%.
After several consecutive MoM declines, gasoline prices began to rise again in August. The CPI for regular unleaded increased 28.1% YoY and 2.6% MoM, compared to -2.1% MoM in July and -10.1% MoM in June. Other fuel, which includes diesel, increased 44% YoY and 9.6% MoM.
The ongoing military conflict between the U.S. Israel and Iran continues to affect fuel prices, which in turn affects the costs of all other goods due to transportation needs.
The average case price for all beer category segments but one at off-premise retailers in market research firm Circana’s data set (total U.S. multi-outlet plus convenience) increased YoY during the four-week period ending August 9.
The lone exception was domestic super premium, which declined $0.01 per case, to an average of $30.09.
Overall, the average price of a case of beer increased $0.41 YoY, to $31.53. For another month in a row, the assorted segment, which accounts for just 0.02% of all category dollars, recorded the largest increase (+$2.49, to $50.95).
YoY increases for all other segments are as follows:
- Hard cider, +$1.14, to $50.20;
- Flavored malt beverages, +$1.12, to $42.37;
- Hard seltzer, +$0.87, to $40.48;
- Craft, +$0.50, to $43.70;
- Imports, +$0.39, to $37.79;
- Domestic sub premium, +$0.38, to $20.31;
- Non-alcoholic, +$0.37, to $36.74;
- Domestic premium, +$0.26, to $25.40.