Food prices rise despite slowing inflation
Grocery prices jumped 11.4% compared to the same period last year.
Food price growth continues to increase. Despite the slowdown in headline inflation, experts believe food prices will begin to stabilize later this year as retail chains begin to pick up speed. supply will return to pre-pandemic levels.
Food prices rose 10.4% year over year in January, according to data released Tuesday by Statistics Canada. This compares to an overall annual inflation of 5.9% for the same month.
Prices for groceries jumped 11.4% from the same period last year, up slightly from December's 11% rise, while food purchased from restaurants increased by 8.2%, up half a percentage point from the previous month, due to increased demand from take-out and fast food.
The federal agency said meat prices, which rose 7.3%, were behind much of the growth. At the same time, the prices of bakery products increased by 15.5%, those of dairy products by 12.4% and those of fresh vegetables by 14.7%.
On a monthly basis, prices for fresh or frozen chicken jumped 9% from December, and posted their biggest month-over-month increase since 1986. But with the As production disruptions ease, Royal Bank economist Nathan Janzen said food inflation should start to ease. The bank's latest forecast is for them to decline below 3% by the end of 2023, he said.
We expect the growth of these prices to plateau and […] we are starting to see some signs of this, he said.
The growth in the prices of groceries year-over-year is still extremely high, but it's been pretty stable since last fall. What we are seeing is likely still, at least in part, the impact of these earlier global supply chain disruptions, transportation disruptions, as well as the agricultural commodity price spikes in early last year, and those shocks have dissipated to some extent.
Mr. Janzen said Canadians shouldn't expect to pay less for their groceries in the near future. It is easier for prices to go up than to go down, he pointed out. We don't expect prices to fall, but rather to rise at a slower pace.
