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U.S. prices at record highs for this year's Thanksgiving holiday
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People shop in a grocery store in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Nov. 10, 2021. /Xinhua

People shop in a grocery store in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Nov. 10, 2021. /Xinhua

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, but rapidly rising inflation is expected to put a dent in people's wallets this holiday season.

October's Consumer Price Index, which is a measure of a basket of goods, climbed a whopping 6.2 percent from the same month last year, and now stands at a 30-year high.

The cost of staple food items -- meat, eggs, fish and poultry -- has soared 10.5 percent for the year ended Sept. 2021, reported the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The United States has been bedeviled by supply chain issues throughout the pandemic, and that has raised costs and put them squarely on the shoulders of the consumer.

Turkeys are the staple of the American Thanksgiving feast, which is coming up at month's end.

The meaty birds are expected to cost significantly more this year, amid reduced supply during a supply chain crisis in which there's no end in sight.

Turkeys weighing between 8 pounds and 16 pounds are up 25 cents per pound more than last year, while the price of turkeys between 16 and 24 pounds cost around 21 cents per pound more, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In sharp contrast to this year -- expected to be the most expensive Thanksgiving in decades -- the average price of last year's Thanksgiving had declined 4 percent from the previous year, according to the Farm Bureau, as reported by CNBC.

John Catsimatidis, the CEO of New York City supermarket Gristedes, who is also in the oil industry, told Fox Business News on Wednesday that the increasing price of oil and gas, coupled with labor shortages, is to blame for rising grocery prices.

Prices are "increasing across the board and the main fault is the price of gasoline and the price of crude oil and labor shortages," Catsimatidis said.

"This is a tax on the poor and the middle class," he added.

Gas prices now stand at a 7-year-high, and Republicans blame U.S. President Joe Biden for a crackdown on fossil fuel consumption since he took office. Most notable is the president's cancellation of a key permit that caused the shutdown of the Keystone Pipeline -- an oil pipeline stretching from Canada to the United States.

Last week, Jay Jandrain, the CEO of Butterball, one of the nation's leading turkey brands, told Fox Business News that turkeys will be more difficult to find this Thanksgiving, and it is reasonable to expect higher prices.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency

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