{"id":175249,"date":"2025-12-04T19:15:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T19:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/175249\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T19:15:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T19:15:11","slug":"average-canadian-family-could-spend-an-additional-1k-on-groceries-next-year-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/175249\/","title":{"rendered":"Average Canadian family could spend an additional $1K on groceries next year; report"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s Food Price Report says the average family of four is expected to spend $17,571.79 on food next year, an increase of $994.63 in 2025.<\/p>\n

Food prices are 27 per cent higher than they were five years ago and are expected to rise by 4 to 6 per cent next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite steadier inflation, Canadian families are still feeling the squeeze at the grocery store,\u201d said Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, Project Lead, Dalhousie University. \u201cOur forecast for 2026 makes one thing clear: food affordability will remain a major pressure point in the year ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

The following factors affected food prices in Canada this year:<\/p>\n

GST\/HST Holiday<\/p>\n

This time last year, the All Canadians Act (Bill C-78) removed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) or Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) charges on select product purchases, including most food and beverages. It contributed to a large decrease in food inflation, dropping to -0.6 per cent in January, the first negative number in over eight years.<\/p>\n

United States Trade Dispute<\/p>\n

Since coming into effect in March, the American tariffs on most goods and energy imported from Canada and counter-tariffs in response have increased costs and price volatility.<\/p>\n

Buy Canadian Movement<\/p>\n

Many Canadians are keeping their dollars at home by purchasing domestically grown and produced products. Retailers are highlighting Canadian goods through special maple leaf and Canadian flag labels in stores. However, research shows that price is still the main driver of Canadian food purchases.<\/p>\n

Interest Rate Cuts<\/p>\n

The Bank of Canada lowered interest rates approximately 75 points throughout 2025. The lower rates allow food businesses to access more affordable loans, making expansion and acquisition easier.<\/p>\n

Changes to Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP)<\/p>\n

The Canadian government has implemented a 10 per cent cap on the number of workers in low-wage positions at a single work location. They have also announced plans to reduce the number of temporary residents from seven per cent to less than five per cent of the population by 2027.<\/p>\n

Beef Prices<\/p>\n

The price of beef saw a 19 per cent increase in the first quarter of 2025. Even though it stabilized in later seasons, prices were still up 23 per cent from the five-year average.<\/p>\n

Food Manufacturing Under Threat<\/p>\n

In 2025, many large corporations restructured and downsized, laying off thousands of workers. The volume of food sold in Canada reduced considerably and production costs have risen, leading to a 1.9 per cent decrease in food manufacturing growth.<\/p>\n

What can Canadians expect for 2026?<\/p>\n

1. Inflation is likely to further decrease, settling around two per cent and holding steady. Canadian GDP growth will continue to slow to approximately 1.2 to 1.4 per cent.<\/p>\n

2. The US trade dispute is ongoing, although a recent rollback of tariffs on more than 200 agricultural and food products is a promising pivot.<\/p>\n

3. The TFWP reforms could lead to labour shortages, and the agricultural industry relies heavily on seasonal workers. This could increase costs for businesses already operating on tight margins, with those extra costs being passed onto customers.<\/p>\n

4. The One Canadian Economy Act passed in July 2025 should stimulate trade between provinces, reduce costs, encourage labour mobility, and strengthen domestic competition.<\/p>\n

5. The Grocery Code of Conduct becomes fully operational in January 2026. It remains to be seen if it will be effectively enforced. The top four grocery chains control at least 72 per cent of the national market share.<\/p>\n

6. As of January 1st, 2026 it will be mandatory for all food that surpasses a pre-determined threshold for sodium, sugar, and saturated fat to include front-of-pack labelling. This will help consumers make better choices and could encourage product innovation. Also, Health Canada mandated that by December 31st, 2025 dairy milk must be fortified with nearly double its current amount of Vitamin D.<\/p>\n

7. Chicken prices are set to rise substantially in 2026. Customer demand for chicken has increased due to the higher cost of beef. Canada has strengthened beef import partnerships with Mexico and Australia. This should help stabilize prices, but the squeeze is expected to continue until at least 2027.<\/p>\n

8. Increasingly severe and unpredictable weather events around the globe will continue to disrupt agricultural production, creating supply challenges.<\/p>\n

The Canada\u2019s Food Price Report is produced collaboratively by Dalhousie University, Saint Mary\u2019s University, University of Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton University, the University of Guelph, Universit\u00e9 Laval, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n

The full report can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If you have found a spelling error, please, notify us by selecting that text and pressing Ctrl+Enter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s Food Price Report says the average family of four is expected to spend $17,571.79 on food next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,113,61,60],"class_list":["post-175249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}