Food inflation Financial News

Shoppers remain concerned about the relatively high food inflation, as fewer now believe food prices will get cheaper in the next year. | Credit: iStock

Grocery price inflation during the period was still double digits at 11%, and take-home grocery sales rose by 9.1%.

Metro Inc. says earnings surged in its latest quarter, fuelled by higher same-store sales.

Bank of England chief economist Huw Pill | Credit: Bank of England

Company profits are not to blame for the high inflation Canadians experienced in the past two years, a Bank of Canada report suggests.

Food price inflation also slowed to its lowest level this year, with falling prices across key staples such as oils, fats, fish, and breakfast cereals.

Rising food costs are leading consumers to pivot away from shopping at food and beverage stores to less costly general merchandisers instead, Statistics Canada reports.

Canadian retailer Loblaw on Wednesday beat Wall Street expectations for second-quarter revenue and profit, helped by sustained demand for groceries and drugs and higher prices.

Russia withdrew from the Black Sea grain deal, the Indian government announced on Thursday that it will be stopping all exports of non-Basmati white rice with immediate effect.The timing of the move comes amid a wave of extreme heat scorching many parts of the globe, all culminating in growing questions about the security of food supply chains around the world.According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, India accounts for more than 40 per cent of the world’s rice exports.In a statement Thursday, the country’s ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution cited the need to “ensure adequate availability of Non-Basmati White Rice in the Indian market and to allay the rise in prices in the domestic market.”According to the ministry, non-Basmati white rice accounts for a quarter of all Indian rice exports.This decision comes as Indians have been struggling with high food prices. In September of last year, the government imposed a 20 per cent export duty on rice to lower the price in the domestic market.

An easing in overall inflation is not being mirrored in food prices, and experts say severe weather and geopolitical disruptions will continue to cause pain for Canadians at the grocery store.

A push to bring more competition into the Canadian grocery sector in the form of discount European brands such as Aldi and Lidl would face steep obstacles in Canada’s fragmented marketplace, experts say.

Governments must act to bring more grocers into the Canadian market, argues a new Competition Bureau report examining concentration in the sector.