Current:Home > InvestTrader Joe's raises banana price for the first time in more than two decades -CapitalWay
Trader Joe's raises banana price for the first time in more than two decades
View
Date:2025-04-16 15:42:21
Trader Joe's customers may experience sticker shock the next time they buy a banana —after more than 20 years, the retailer has hiked the price for the first time.
The price of a single banana has gone up roughly 20%, rising from 19 cents each to 23 cents. A company spokesperson said that Trader Joe's only changes its prices when costs change.
"We've now reached a point where this change is necessary," the spokesperson said.
Why are grocery prices rising?
Trader Joe's didn't go into detail about the reasons behind the price increase, but food prices have remained stubbornly high, even as inflation has cooled. By the end of 2023, consumers were paying nearly 20% more for the same groceries as they were in 2021, CBS MoneyWatch reported.
Cocoa and sugar are among the items with rising prices. Futures for a pound of sugar are up about 8% in 2024, after rising 2.7% in 2023. And cocoa prices hit record highs recently, with rising temperatures stressing and damaging crops in West Africa, where most of the world's cocoa is produced.
The price of a pound of bananas has remained relatively steady over the past year, ranging from 62 to 64 cents per pound from February of 2023 through February of 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. So it's not clear what's behind the rising price at Trader Joe's, but industry experts at the World Banana Forum earlier this month warned that the price of bananas around the world was very likely to rise because of climate change.
When temperatures increase beyond optimal levels for banana growth, there's a risk of low yields, Dan Bebber, a leading academic on sustainable agriculture and crop pathogens, previously told CBS News.
Climate change is also helping diseases that threaten banana trees, in particular the TR4 fungus, spread more easily.
Bebber said consumers should already be paying more for bananas to prevent the issue from getting worse, noting that higher prices would help banana-growing countries prepare for climate change, put mitigation measures in place, look after soils and pay workers higher wages.
"Consumers have benefited from very, very cheap bananas over the past few decades. But it's not really a fair price, so that is really something that needs to be looked at," Bebber said.
Some good news for Trader Joe's fans
While food prices have gone bananas, some Trader Joe's prices are indeed falling. Green onions are now 99 cents, the lowest price in at least a decade, a company spokesperson said. Raw almonds are down a dollar, while romaine hearts and organic tri-color bell peppers are down 50 cents.
And all of those are cheaper than the viral Trader Joe's totes shoppers are re-selling online for hundreds of dollars.
Aliza ChasanAliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBSNews.com. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo. Aliza covers trending news, often focusing on crime and politics.
TwitterveryGood! (12157)
Related
- Trump's 'stop
- One trade idea for eight Super Bowl contenders at NFL's deal deadline
- 'Shock to the conscience': 5 found fatally shot in home near Clinton, North Carolina
- Kris Jenner calls affair during Robert Kardashian marriage 'my life's biggest regret'
- Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
- George Santos faces arraignment on new fraud indictment in New York
- Former Ohio State OL Dawand Jones suspected Michigan had Buckeyes' signs during 2022 game
- Darius Miles, ex-Alabama basketball player, denied dismissal of capital murder charge
- Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
- Twitter takeover: 1 year later, X struggles with misinformation, advertising and usage decline
Ranking
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- Pedro Argote, suspect in killing of Maryland judge, found dead
- Best Buy recalls almost 1 million pressure cookers after spewed contents burn 17 people
- Farmington police release video from fatal shooting of armed man on Navajo reservation
- Warm inflation data keep S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq under wraps before Fed meeting next week
- Exclusive: Mother of 6-year-old Muslim boy killed in alleged hate crime speaks out
- Home prices and rents have both soared. So which is the better deal?
- Former President George W. Bush to throw out ceremonial first pitch before World Series opener
Recommendation
Jamie Foxx gets stitches after a glass is thrown at him during dinner in Beverly Hills
'Naked Attraction' offers low-hanging fruit
Exclusive: Mother of 6-year-old Muslim boy killed in alleged hate crime speaks out
A salty problem for people near the mouth of the Mississippi is a wakeup call for New Orleans
Most popular books of the week: See what topped USA TODAY's bestselling books list
Jay-Z Reveals Why Blue Ivy Now Asks Him for Fashion Advice
Details of the tentative UAW-Ford agreement that would end 41-day strike
The Golden Bachelor Just Delivered 3 Heartbreaking Exits and We Are Not OK