Food costs more than inflation

Some food prices are rising faster than Statistics Canada suggests. If the company talks about 11.4%, Newspaper It often sees double that.

File photo, Julian McEvoy

Customers circulate in a grocery store in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.

The latest Consumer Price Index report released today showed inflation at 6.9% in September, down 0.1% from August.

For grocery store prices, it’s more like 11.4%, Statistics Canada says. This is the largest increase since 1981 and is likely to be higher.

Denise Landry, Director, Prestige Group

“Food inflation is slightly underestimated. It takes time, goes up, and you should never forget that,” explains Denise Landry, who manages Groupe Prestige.

Mr. The laundry handles grain purchases, for example, for many Quebec processors in the bakery and pastry industry.

“When you’re an entrepreneur selling to big chains, it can take 4 to 6 months to ramp up,” he says.

Will it increase further?

Denis Landry notes that a bushel of wheat is 65% more expensive than it was 24 months ago, as Statistics Canada calculates that grains are up 17.9% in a year.

Other increases in the price of food sold in grocery stores are “highly likely.”

In addition to grains, Statistics Canada indicates increases of 16.4% for coffee and tea, 14.8% for bakery products, 12.7% for fresh fruit and 11.8% for fresh vegetables.

But when we analyze the prices of some commodities for 12 months, we see increases in the order of 30 to 50%.

Worse than they say

We trained using statistics from the Glouton application database. All product prices quoted are as given at the time of promotions.

In the last 12 months, Kraft 1Kg peanut butter has risen 42% from $3.77 to $6.49.

It’s even worse for budget-sized medium-lean beef, which sold for $2.99 a pound a year ago and is available today for less than $5.99 a pound.

For pasta, it increased by 36%. For POM tortillas, the increase was 21%.

All of these products are often found on flyers, says Glouton boss Jean-François Gagné Bérubé.

“For some products, the upside, even in specialties, is very visible,” he says.

A worrisome situation knowing that discounts have become rare for 12 months.

This is especially true for fruits, vegetables, frozen foods, prepared foods and baked goods, according to statistics from NielsenIQ Canada.

This is the first time since the 2008 financial crisis.

♦ For 10 consecutive months, food prices have risen faster than all components of the consumer price index. The difference in September is more pronounced: 6.9% for inflation and 11.7% for grocery prices.

Kraft Peanut Butter 1 kg: 42%