Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Basic Food Index (BFI) for American Samoa recorded a 0.2% increase in November 2024. Out of the 20 food commodities monitored in the BFI, 9 experienced price increases.

However, a few foods remained unchanged and are good buys this month, including fish $5.18, corned beef $5.45, water 50¢, pork spareribs $1.86, tuna $2.36, and bread $3.58.

And a few food commodities saw their prices reduced this month. These include bananas (-9.6%) $1.50, taro (-6.1%) $2.17, sugar (-2.6%) $3.79, rice (-0.9%) 5 lbs. $5.50, and milk (-0.8%) $2.52.

Like this past October, egg prices increased again by over 5%, reaching 6.4% with the average cost of small eggs up from $3.12 in October to $3.32 in November.

Other food items that experienced price increases include sausage (5.8%) $2.20, butter (4.5%) $4.68, saimin (1.8%) 56¢, ice cream (1.6%) $9.74, chicken (1.1%) $19.89 per case, soda (0.9%) $1.13, turkey tail (0.5%) $2.07, and mayonnaise (0.6%) $4.71.

The Basic Food Index is a monthly rapid assessment of basic food items to monitor the cost and availability of these 20 food products throughout the community. The BFl is separate from the Quarterly Consumer Price Index (CPI), a comprehensive standard measure of inflation and the cost of living in American Samoa.

An upgrade to the survey coverage was implemented at the beginning of 2022, when seven additional stores were included in the data collection process, extending coverage from Seetaga in the West to Amouli in the East. Fourteen major to mid-size retail stores have been selected to monitor basic food costs.