Plenty of Christmas trees; prices may be higher due to inflation

The good news is there are plenty of real and artificial Christmas trees this year. The not so good news is that inflation will affect the price tag of real trees as wholesalers will most likely pass their price increases on to consumers. 

Surveys show wholesale tree prices increasing by 5 to 15 percent. Marsha Gray, Real Christmas Tree Board executive director says, "Certain trees may be hard to find in certain areas, but shortages are not expected. But the real trees may be higher priced due to inflation."

The National Tree Company provides artificial trees to retailers nationwide. Company CEO Chris Butler says supply is high, a far cry from last year when the shipping industry was slowed by the pandemic causing supplies to arrive late -- after the holidays. So now retailers have a surplus, which translates to artificial tree discounts he said.

Regardless of real or artificial, several surveys show that shoppers plan to spend less on the holiday staple this year.