Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Cost of chicken legs and price of eggs faced a major decline in average retail price in October, according to the Basic Food Index (BFI) October report released this week by the ASG Commerce Department.

Besides chicken legs and eggs, other foods items — rice, pork spareribs, and milk — contributed to the drop in basic food cost, the report says, adding that the BFI report was drawn up based on seven major food outlets selected for the survey.

According to the BFI, the cost of chicken legs dropped for the second time this year since February, having the greatest month to month decline of 2.5% for October. Furthermore, the cost of eggs decreased by 2.3% while the rest of the food items saw minimal decrease of less than a percentage each.

Five stores contacted by Samoa News on Wednesday said prices for their chicken legs remained steady between $12.95 to $14.99 per case since early this year.

Food items in which average retail prices increased are: fresh fish (1.3%), turkey tails (1.4%), sugar (0.3%), mayonnaise (2.1%) and corned beef (0.5%), the BFI report points out. It also states that average retail prices for nine food items — soft drinks, bottled water, taro, sausage, banana, saimin, canned tun, bread, and butter — remained constant in October.