Price evolution of grapes in the United States

1. Relevance of the price of grapes
2. Price evolution of grapes
   1. Absolute price of grapes per year
   2. Inflation adjusted price of grapes per year
3. Conclusion
4. FAQs about grapes's price in the the United States
5. Price evolution table and full chart

There are many varieties of grapes in the market. When we talk about "grapes" in this article we are specifically referring to Seedless Thompson Grapes. Know that prices for other varieties might change.

Price evolution of grapes

The average price of a pound of grapes between 1981 and 2021 was $1.84, with the lowest price being $1.14 in 1981 and the highest $2.76 in 2016 (at least within the timeframe we have data for).

Absolute price of grapes per year

Our data source for this article was: FRED .

The absolute price of grapes in the the United States has gone from $1.14 in 1981 to $2.40 in 2021. That's an absolute increase of $1.26, or 110.53% in a period of 40 years. (go to the next section for inflation-adjusted values).

This increment has not been linear though. During this period of 40 years the price of grapes actually decreased year over year 13 times, in 1982, 1985, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2000, 2007, 2009, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020.

The biggest absolute price decrease in the price of a pound of grapes was in 2020, when the price dropped by $-0.17, or -6.94%. The biggest price increase was $0.25, or 15.72% in 1999.

So yes, it's had its ups and downs, but overall, price increases outweight the deceases, making grapes pricier than it used to be.

Inflation-adjusted price of grapes per year

As accurate as the information above might be, it can also be somehow deceiving. This is because the value of money changes over time, usually decreasing. That means that $1 of today's money cannot buy as much as $1 in the past. This phenomenon is called inflation, and can make it complicated to compare historical pricing data. Luckily, we can adjust for it and calculate what a dollar value of the past would be equal to in today's money.

So let's not take a look at the evolution of the price of grapes in the the United States, in that same 40 years period between 1981 and 2021, but adjusting prices to inflation (aka. in today's money).

When we adjust for inflation, we see that the price of grapes actually peaked in 1981, when it cost $3.75 (in today's money), and was at its lowest in 2020 when it sold for $2.42.

The biggest drop in adjusted price happened in 1982, when the inflation-adjusted price dropped by $-0.74 (-19.73%). The biggest spike in adjusted price was in 1986 when it jumped by $0.39 (15.73%).

The average price of grapes during this period of time, adjusting for inflation, has been $2.88, and the most current price of $2.40 is 16.67% below that average. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Conclusion

The absolute price of grapes has increased by $0.01 ($0.42%) in the last decade, and $1.26 (110.53%) since 1981. But that comes as no surprise, as prices always tend to increase over time due to inflation.

Now, as we've explained earlier, the absolute price of a product does not necessarily represent its affordability fairly. For that we have to look at its inflation adjusted price, or in other words, the price evolution in today's money.

When we look at the inflation-adjusted price of grapes, we see that it has varied ± 23.06% over this period of time, and is currently 16.76% cheaper than the average over these years.

So not everything is bad news after all!

Even at $2.40 (per pound), grapes is actually more afordable in 2021 than it was in 1981.

So if there had to be one single take away from this article it would be this: The average person has to make less of an economic effort to purchase grapes today than in the past.

We can consider that the price of grapes has remained maily stable over this period of time. It sure had some ups and downs, like in 1999 and 2020, but considering the magnitude and complexity of the global economy its price has mainly kept up with inflation.

FAQs about the price of grapes in the the United States