Prices for beef, milk, eggs and some other grocery items have been dropping for several months, providing relief for consumers who suffered through the steep increases of a year ago. But prices are likely to start edging upward again as the economy recovers, according to a new federal report and economic analysts. 'The impact from lower energy prices on grocery store prices has largely been played out, and so we're now looking at grocery store prices to rise modestly through the end of the year,' said Mark Vitner, a managing director and senior economist at Wells Fargo. The government report, by the Economic Research Service of the Department of Agriculture, said that grocery prices decreased 0.5 percent in July, compared with June. Compared with July 2008, when overall food costs were surging, grocery prices in July were down 0.9 percent. Several food categories saw sharp drops. Beef fell 2.3 percent in July, compared with June, the eighth decrease in the last nine months, according to the report. Egg prices were down 2.7 percent from June to July and were 21.3 percent below their level in July a year ago. Milk prices saw a one-month decline of 0.4 percent, the 10th decline in the last 11 months, and were 18.4 percent below July 2008. The national average price for a gallon of fresh whole milk in July was $2.99, compared with $3.96 in the same month a year earlier, a 25 percent drop, according to federal data. In contrast, some food prices went up compared with last year, including breakfast cereals, sugar and carbonated drinks. Overall, the Agriculture Department forecast that prices for what it calls 'food at home,' a category that includes purchases at grocery stores, convenience stores and farmers markets, will rise 2 to 3 percent this year. Last year, the department said, prices for food at home rose 6.4 percent, the highest jump in nearly two decades. 'We do expect some price increases with the recovering economy,' said Ephraim Leibtag, a senior economist at the Agriculture Department. 'Our numbers here imply there has to be some additional inflation in the next six months to get out of the negatives we're in right now.' 