Pago Pago,AMERICAN SAMOA —The Commerce Department’s Basic Food Index (BFI) for October has confirmed what some consumers have told Samoa News last month that there was a drop in the price of certain popular food items such as turkey tail and chicken legs. And the price decrease came at the perfect time — White Sunday and many family fa’alavelave making purchases a little more affordable but still able to contribute to the economy.

According to DOC report released late last week, there was a “significant drop” in the October index compared to September index, and this was attributed to major drops in the average price of turkey tails (-7.7%), saimin (-5.1%), chicken legs (-5.0%), taro (-3.6%), eggs (-2.6%), rice (-2.0%), sugar (-1.5%) and mayonnaise (-0.6%).

Consumers tell Samoa News that they are hopeful that price for some of these food items will continue to decrease this month, to help with food purchases heading into the holiday season, which begins Thanksgiving week.

DOC says that although the October index dropped, the average prices for fresh fish, port spare ribs, canned tuna, rice, corned beef, butter, ice cream, bread and sausage increased in October.

The rest of the food items didn’t change in October, said DOC, noting that seven major food outlets were selected for the monthly survey.