July 2024: Pet prices rise by 0.1%, inflation falls to 2.9%

Although pet prices rose 0.1% in July 2024, the overall inflation rate fell slightly to 2.9%, according to John Gibbons of PetBusinessProfessor.com in his July report.

The national monthly consumer price index (CPI) of 2.9% year-on-year is a decline of 3.0% and is now below the 22>23 reading and only 34% from 21>22.

“Petflation has definitely slowed in 2024,” Gibbons explained. “July was 38% below the monthly average and 34.5% below the national consumer price index. That's about the same as 2021.”

2022 compared to 2024

• US CPI – Prices are +0.1% compared to June. The year-on-year increase is 2.9%, compared to 3.0%. The peak was +9.1% in June 2022. The target inflation rate is 23, but the 21>24 rate is still +15.2%, 67.3% of total inflation since 2019. Inflation was low in July 2021.
• Pet food – Prices are -0.03% from June and -0.04% from July 23, up from -0.2%. They are still well below the home food inflation rate of +1.1%. The -0.04% year-on-year decline comes at a time when prices were 22.9% above 2019 levels, and the current decline is still far less than the -0.7% decline from 2019 to 2020. The 2021-2024 inflation surge has now accounted for 100% of the total 22.7% inflation since 2019.

YTD – 2022 compared to 2024

• US CPI – The 23>24 rate is 3.2%, the same as June, but also 30% lower than 22>23 and 61% lower than 21>22. It is also 24% below the 2019>2024 average year-on-year increase, but still 45% above the 2018>2021 average annual increase. 74% of the 22.7% inflation since 2019 occurred in 2021>24. Inflation is a major problem that only started recently.
• Pet food – Year-to-date inflation is 1.1%, down from 1.3% in June and 92% less than the 22>23 rate. Now it is also 85% lower than 21>22 and 10% below the 2018>2020 average rate. Pet food has the highest 22>23 rate in the table and remains in 2nd place in 21>24 rates. Deflation in the 1st half of 2021 kept year-to-date prices low, then prices rose sharply in 2022 and especially 2023. 95% of inflation since 2019 occurred from 2021>24.

Update: Producer Price Index (PPI) for pet food

Retail price changes usually reflect the dog and cat PPI but they are lagging a bit. They peaked on May 23, fell slightly from June to August, rose in September/October, leveled off in November, fell from December to February, rose in March and fell from April to May, then rose in June and fell a bit in July.

Prices only rose

The CPI for retail pet food is -0.04% compared to July 2023 and -0.03% compared to June 2024. The category “Other pet food” shows a decrease of -10.2% compared to July 2023.