A new wave of food price hikes hit consumers Tuesday.
Soaring worldwide grain prices have already made food more expensive in recent months, and economists think prices will keep weighing on household spending at least for the next several months.
"Surging food prices will pick up the pace most in the first half of this year," said Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute Inc. "The surges in commodity prices from last summer to the start of this year were extraordinary."