Rising oil prices spread beyond gas

In import-based Hawaii, rising energy prices raise the price of everything else

It's easy to see the impact of record-high crude oil prices at the gas pump.

But what about other areas of the economy?

Anywhere you turn in Hawaii, it's hard to not notice the rising cost of everything from gasoline to groceries.

"You see it at the gas pump, and that's the wake-up call, but it also shows up in the processing costs for food and other manufactured items that are produced elsewhere, but that we then import," said Paul Brewbaker, chief economist for Bank of Hawaii.

Some increases are easily seen, such as fuel surcharges on airfares or shipping rates.

Other costs are less measurable, such as how meat prices are driven up due to higher feed prices as a result of ethanol demand, Brewbaker says.

"The inflation has been much higher than we thought in a particular commodity, petroleum, on which Hawaii is very much more dependent than the rest of the U.S. energy consumption complex," Brewbaker added. "That vulnerability weighs increasingly heavy on prospects for economic growth in the islands."