🍌 Banana prices are going, well, you know
Why it matters: Tariff increases are starting to drive inflation for certain goods, and perishable items that can't be produced domestically are first in line.
Enter the banana, described by Axios last year as "the fruit inflation forgot." It's been heretofore resistant to rising prices.
That's due in part to free trade agreements, which are now a bit kaput thanks to the blanket 10% tariff imposed by the White House. (Coffee prices are also feeling tariff pain.)
By the numbers: Banana prices rose 3.3% in May from the previous month to 66 cents per pound, according to Consumer Price Index data out Wednesday.
Inflation overall ticked up just 0.1% over the same time period.
Zoom in: Low labor costs also play a role, as does the banana's big weakness: It spoils quickly. That's good for banana bread, but bad for banana importers.
The intrigue: Growers have to move bananas quickly, but importers couldn't stockpile much inventory before tariffs took effect, as companies did for so many other products.
Bananas aren't grown at scale in the U.S., as Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Penn.) explained to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at a recent hearing on Capitol Hill.
Lutnick said that if companies build their products in the U.S. they won't face tariffs. Dean responded, "We cannot build bananas in America."
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