Ottawa farmers markets busy as report finds increase in grocery prices

A new report is highlighting a 2.8 per cent increase in grocery prices in June as shopping habits evolve. CTV’s Josh Marano reports.

Colleen Russel, a resident of Constance Bay in Ottawa, is bagging her groceries by the bushel at the Carp Farmers’ Market on Saturday.

Russell says the market has become a go-to spot for her groceries needs, as prices at the grocery store continue to rise.

“I’d much rather spend money locally than buy it at a grocery store,” Russell said. “It’s so expensive there now, there’s not a deal to be had.”

Canadian grocery giant Loblaw recently released its July Food Inflation Report, reporting food prices increased 2.8 per cent in June compared to last year.

Beef (14.5%), soybean oil (17.4%) and coffee (19.2%) saw the biggest increases with tariffs being blamed for price hikes.

Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, says the report is consistent with what consumers are seeing in the market.

“Counter tariffs are impacting some verticals like tea, coffee, alcohol, citrus… all of these products are being impacted by tariffs,” Charlebois said.

“The dollar is less of a factor to be honest. In December, we were expecting food inflation to be anywhere between three to five per cent. As we are now into July, we are expecting food inflation to end this year at around three per cent.”

Charlebois adds the average Canadian spends roughly $311 a month on groceries, about the same amount as last year.

“People are very frugal, very careful, we were noticing that Canadians are actually visiting more stores over a month,” Charlebois said.

“Before COVID, the average Canadian was actually visiting a grocery store about 5.5 times a month. That number is up to 7.5 times a month now, which means that people are actually visiting other kinds of stores, even dollar stores, to save money.”

While prices are up, Loblaw says fresh vegetable prices fell by 3.1 per cent and helped ease the cost pressure on grocery bills.

Charlebois says cucumbers and onions saw the biggest price decrease.

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