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Canada’s inflation rate is plummeting, so why are grocery prices still so expensive?
(www.ctvnews.ca)
this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2023
187 points (97.5% liked)
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This is such a dumb headline.
The rate of price increases slowing doesn't mean that prices go down. It means that prices increase more slowly.
ETA: we aren't experiencing deflation. And we probably don't want to.
But, to be fair, they are going down. The price I can get as the farmer is 30-50% of what it was last year.
You're still paying more at the grocery store because what you are eating now, I sold you last year (maybe even the year before). Turns out people don't like surprises when it comes to food, and want to ensure that we grow enough to feed them, so they generally buy it years in advance.
Your price might go down, but that's because you have the least amount of leverage. Same applies to customers, and to any smaller entity in the supply chain.
I'd also note the LCL, Empire and Metro didn't hesitate to push on supplier increases, but also didn't hesitate to raise resale at the same time. Most of them are seeing increased margins and they're all seeing higher profit, which, if we had a fair tax structure, wouldn't happen.
I work in distribution. Other than select contract negotiations at very high volumes, I can't think of the last time I saw a price decrease go through, though I will say our fuel surcharge at least isn't going up. So the rate of increase is slowing, but resale prices, by and large, are not going down. At best, this is the "new normal"
Somewhere in the mid-2010s, I'd imagine. Prices have been relatively stable or increasing since, save recently. It's still a little early for the rest of the chain to start to feel it, but it will come. It always does.
In fact, with respect to the economy at large, only once in history has a period of high inflation not been quickly followed by deflation – and that period was unique in that, unlike the usual supply shocks, the driving force – a sudden, sharp rise in the number of consumers (i.e. the boomers coming onto the scene) – never really went away.
It all takes time, though. Nothing happens in a day.
Agreed! ...and you made a smart observation about prices.