Many are asking when food prices will return to pre\u002D2022 levels. The truth is, they won\u0027t.
The retail sales numbers released by Statistics Canada over the past few years are telling us an interesting story. In January 2017, Canadians were spending 48% on food, among all other goods bought at retail. This went down to 46% just before the pandemic started. In March 2020, this rate shot up to 74% for obvious reasons — nothing was open for business. Today, 41% of the money spent on retail goods is for food, excluding alcohol and cannabis.
Most important though, total retail sales for grocery and specialty food stores appear to have almost plateaued. In February 2023, the monthly food expenditures per capita were about $583. In February 2020, three years earlier, the monthly food expenditures per capita were roughly $618. Since we get less for our dollar now, these numbers are astonishing. If we are to believe these numbers, Canadians are likely buying less food in volume and are also spending less in food retail.
Unsurprisingly, many, many households are just spending less, and being more frugal about food purchases in times of financial stress. They may also be wasting less food as well and are more careful with food inventories they have at home. Or is it more gardening, or more visits to farmers’ markets? This causes concern about the numerous health and nutritional compromises made by consumers due to higher food prices.
It certainly has been confusing for Canadian shoppers over the last 12 months. Grocery shopping takes more thought and analysis on the part of the consumer. We can’t just drop by the grocery store and pick up what we’ll need for the next few days. The bad news is that Canadians are coming out of an era during which food was dirt cheap. In fact, the world is experiencing the same challenges, not just Canada.
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