Grocers, time to freeze prices on food staples

While inflation is easing, food inflation appears to be on a totally different path.

In fact, food inflation has outpaced our general inflation rate for more than 12 months.

Statistics Canada announced the year- over- year food inflation rate for retail in August was 10.8 per cent and 7.4 per cent in food service. Canada ranks third among the G7 countries, after Japan at 4.7 per cent and France at 7.7 per cent. Canada's rate is below that of Italy ( 10.6 per cent), the United States

( 11.8 per cent), the United Kingdom ( 13.1 per cent) and Germany ( 16.6 per cent).

Still, food inflation is hurting Canadian consumers and it won't end any time soon.

The agri- food analytics lab at Dalhousie University, for which I work, in partnership with internet marketing service provider Caddle, investigated what Canadian consumers are doing to deal with higher food prices.

Some have opted to grow their own food.

A total of 15.5 per cent of Canadians started growing their own food during the last year. Ontario is where the highest percentage of people started to grow their own food, at 17.4 per cent, followed by British Columbia at 16.2 per cent. The Atlantic ( 15.2 per cent), Quebec ( 13.7 per cent), and the Prairies ( 13.1 per cent) were next. A total of 6.2 per cent of Canadians use hydroponics to grow food and 4.5 per cent claim they have livestock and didn't 12 months ago.

The most popular grocery shopping habit change we measured was using loyalty program points. A total of 33.7 per cent have been using loyalty program points to pay for groceries in the last 12 months. The second option is weekly flyers ( 32.1 per cent), followed by using coupons, at 23.9 per cent.

While 19.1 per cent of Canadians have visited discount stores in the last 12 months, 11.5 per cent of Canadians have visited dollar stores more often to purchase food. A total of eight per cent are visiting farmers’ markets more often, and 7.1 per cent of consumers visited roadside stands to buy directly from farmers in the last year.

Interestingly, a total of 40.6 per cent of Canadians are trying to waste less food, a much higher rate than 12 months ago.

A total of 21 per cent of Canadians are opting for store labels, which are less expensive most of the time.

Also, 19.7 per cent of Canadians are buying more food that is about to expire.

More worrisome, almost 24 per cent of Canadians are cutting back on the amount of food they purchase due to higher food inflation, and almost 70 per cent of them are women. Dietary changes to save money have been made by 8.2 per cent.

While a total of 7.1 per cent are skipping meals, 6.6 per cent of Canadians are paying for their groceries with a credit card without knowing when they will be able to pay it back.

In Europe, where food inflation in some regions is even higher, grocers are guaranteeing prices for certain staples, for a month or two, to help low- income families. These campaigns are all initiated by industry, not government.

Perhaps it’s time for Canadian grocers to sympathize with struggling consumers in meaningful ways. Maybe, if they took steps to support consumers, the baseless accusations of “greedflation” would go away.