“Food has never been cheaper” for Americans

My amazing Dad sent over this interesting article from The Motley Fool. It has some interesting facts about groceries:

Groceries in the U.S. are cheaper than anywhere else on the planet. Food has never been cheaper for us. In fact, the cost of food (as a share of income) is at a historical low. Plus, it’s cheaper in the U.S. than in any other country.

We spend 5.5% of our disposable income on food at home. Compare that to the 11.4%, 13.6% and 14.4% spent by the Germans, French, and Italians, respectively. If you were to move to Mexico, Turkey, or Kenya, putting food on the table would cost you 24.1%, 24.5% and 45.9% of your disposable income.

Private label products — items manufactured by big national food companies and major brands like Conagra and then sold under a retailer’s or a generic label –comprise 17.4% of food sales for U.S. retailers, accounting for a whopping $90 billion in business in 2012, according to Nielsen Company. Nielsen reports that sales of private label products have grown 19% over the last year.

Guess who’s giving Whole Foods Market the most competition as a purveyor of natural food? Kroger. Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen told analysts just weeks ago that comparing on sales numbers alone Kroger would be the nation’s second largest natural retailer “by a pretty wide margin.”

Read the entire article at The Motley Fool.