On the checkout of my native grocery retailer, I discover myself holding my breath as the whole on the display climbs larger and better with every scanned merchandise. Even staples like margarine and pasta appear to teeter on the sting of unaffordability.
I’m not imagining it—these meals just lately topped the record for highest month-over-month worth will increase. In Might 2023, you may count on to pay a median of $7.46 for a 907-gram tub of margarine in Canada, up almost 58% from the $4.73 you’ll have paid in the identical month in 2021.
So, how a lot is the common grocery invoice in Canada? In line with Canada’s Meals Worth Report for 2023, a household of 4 will spend $16,288.41 on meals this yr ($1,357.37 a month)—that’s up $1,065.60 from 2022.
The speed of inflation reached its peak in June 2022 at 8.1% , in response to Statistics Canada in its Shopper Worth Index (CPI) report, which tracks the price of lots of of on a regular basis items, from groceries to fuel. Inflation has been falling steadily ever since and it now sits at 3.4%, as of Might 2023. The meals inflation charge in November 2022 (11.4%) was the quickest year-over-year improve since 1981. Are we over the inflation hump? Not fairly. Statistics Canada says that grocery costs elevated 9% year-over-year since final Might. For reference, the Financial institution of Canada goals to maintain inflation at 2% per yr, utilizing the in a single day charge, amongst different instruments. Rising gasoline prices, labour shortages and supply-chain issues have additionally made meals pricier.
One other supply of excessive payments on the grocery checkout: lack of competitors amongst grocers. The Canadian Competitors Bureau launched a 2023 report referred to as “Canada Wants Extra Grocery Competitors,” in case it’s not clear. Meaning extra new grocery retailers, and fewer restrictions for brand new shops to open up. The bureau noticed a development of “Canada’s largest grocers rising the quantity they make on meals gross sales,” earlier than the availability chain points even started.
I’m not alone in my expertise. Canadians are going through rising meals prices at supermarkets throughout the nation. Practically six-in-ten respondents (59%) in a latest Equifax survey mentioned they “are utilizing coupons and on the lookout for offers extra at grocery shops versus final yr.” Simply over half of Canadians (54%) are “chopping again on grocery purchasing altogether.” And, alarmingly, a survey by the Canadian Hub for Utilized and Social Analysis on the College of Saskatchewan discovered that nearly 20% of us are consuming smaller meals or skipping meals due to excessive meals costs.
In July, greater than 60% of respondents to our social #ballot had been both purchasing at new/numerous shops or shopping for extra retailer manufacturers to deal with larger #grocery prices.
Is couponing one thing you do or would contemplate?
— MoneySense (@MoneySense) December 2, 2022
What’s the common grocery invoice in Canada?
Meals prices are rising—how way more you’ll spend will rely in your age, intercourse and site. Canada’s Meals Worth Report, ready by researchers at 4 Canadian universities, tracks the annual value of meals in Canada primarily based on retail grocery costs and restaurant costs. The common meals value per thirty days for a girl aged 19 to 30 years outdated (that’s me) was about $297 in 2022. That’s $3,564 per yr. Males in the identical age group spent $529 extra for the yr, at $4,093 whole. A household of 4 (two adults and two children, aged 14–18 and 9–13) spent a median of $15,223 for the yr. Older adults spent much less on meals than youthful adults; in 2022, girls aged 70-plus spent a median of $3,273, whereas males aged 70-plus spent $3,637.
Throughout all provinces, meals worth inflation from 2021 to 2022 averaged about 10.5%. Will increase assorted, from a excessive of 11% in Quebec to a low of 9.2% in B.C.
The report additionally predicts that total meals costs in Canada will proceed to rise by 5% to 7% in 2023. Sigh.