CNS Canada — Canadians will be paying more for meat than earlier thought in 2017, according to a new report from Dalhousie University.
Expected price declines for other foods, however, will limit the impact on the total grocery bill in the country.
In the mid-year update for Canada’s Food Price Report, researchers at Dalhousie in Halifax forecast meat prices will increase by up to nine per cent on the year, which compares to the December 2016 forecast of a four to six per cent increase for meat.
Read Also
Feed Grains Weekly: Price likely to keep stepping back
As the harvest in southern Alberta presses on, a broker said that is one of the factors pulling feed prices lower in the region. Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, added that lower cattle numbers in feedlots, plentiful amounts of grass for cattle to graze and a lacklustre export market also weighed on feed prices.
Overall, food inflation is forecast at three to four per cent by the study, which would mark a slight decline from the three to five per cent increase expected in the earlier report.
The fish, dairy, bakery products and vegetable sectors were all revised lower from the annual report. However, on an individual crop basis, lettuce was singled out as a product seeing price spikes.
The rise in lettuce was reportedly tied to a combination of high demand and weather concerns with California’s crop.
The Dalhousie report compares with the official Statistics Canada Consumer Price Index, which indicates a much more modest rate of food inflation.
