The notorious Grocery Shrink Ray was supposed to help prevent this, or so we were told by apologists for it, but Datamonitor is reporting that Kraft Foods, Kellogg’s, ConAgra, Sara Lee, and Tyson “are all expected to announce a hike in the prices of their products” in the near future. Here are some of the hikes you can expect, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

• Cereal makers General Mills and Kellogg Co. have both said they will raise prices. General Mills “said it needed to make up for cost increases that it expects will total 9 percent.”
• Kraft Foods, whose brands include Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia cream cheese, Oreos and Wheat Thins, will follow its 8% price increase earlier this year with another one to offset rising commodity costs.
• Sara Lee will raise prices 20% for its meat products like Jimmy Dean sausages and Ball Park Franks. Sara Lee’s COO gave this mangled explanation to Datamonitor: “Price increases vary a lot by type of products but the increases will be as low as zero and some products we will decrease on and other increases (will be) in excess of 20%.”

The Chicago Sun-Times advises,

Overall grocery prices are expected to rise 5 percent to 6 percent this year. But some categories are projected to post higher increases, such as eggs, fats and oils and cereals.

A report by the Food Institute, a research group for manufacturers, predicted 2008 increases of at least 9 percent for those products.

“Grocery bills going up — again” [Chicago Sun-Times]
“US food firms to increase prices again” [Datamonitor] (subscription only)
(Photo: Getty)

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