Methodology & sources

Produce: USDA Boston Terminal Market

Daily wholesale prices reported by USDA AMS Specialty Crops Market News for the Boston (Chelsea, MA) terminal market, the closest USDA-reported terminal market to Connecticut. Reports BH_FV010 (fruit), BH_FV020 (vegetables) and BH_FV030 (onions & potatoes). We record the quoted range for a fixed origin, pack and size and chart the midpoint. If an item isn't quoted on a given day, we keep the last value.

Dairy: CME cash via USDA Dairy Market News

Daily CME cash closes for 40-lb cheddar blocks, barrels, Grade AA butter and nonfat dry milk (USDA report 1603). Block cheese is the benchmark most mozzarella and pizza-cheese contracts are priced against.

Protein, dry goods, beverage, packaging: BLS PPI

Monthly Producer Price Indexes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (for example WPU02120301 wheat flour, WPU02780115 shortening and cooking oils, WPU091503011 corrugated carryout boxes). Indexes show the size and direction of producer-level moves, not a case price. Recent months are preliminary and get revised.

Operator blended ranges

Where enough working operators share invoice data, we publish a blended range (low–high) for an item and period. We never show distributor names, SKUs, individual invoices or any single operator's price, and a range needs at least 3 data points. Ranges shown today are placeholders labeled SAMPLE.

Coming next

• USDA MyMarketNews API for daily chicken parts, boxed beef and pork cutout, and eggs
• Longer daily history for produce and dairy

Caveats

Not an official statistic and not a quote. Your price includes delivery, distributor margin, pack and grade differences. Data is provided as-is from public sources.