While Canada’s food prices remained elevated, they also continued their trend of slower year-over-year growth in October, according to the latest figures from Statistics Canada.
Grocery inflation was at 5.4 per cent year-over-year in October, a small drop from September's 5.8 per cent gain, the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) noted.
Fresh vegetables contributed the most to the slowdown, with a five per cent inflation rate, the report showed.
Mortgage interest rate cost, rent and food purchased from stores continued to be the largest contributors to the year-over-year CPI increase, Statistics Canada said.
FOODS THAT COST MORE
At 14 per cent, edible fat and oils had the highest year-over-year inflation growth in October, the report noted.
The products increased in price by 0.8 per cent from September to October 2023.
Some of the other products with the highest year-over-year inflation include fruit juices at 13.5 per cent, “other fresh fruit” at 11.5 per cent and pasta products at 10.5 per cent.
From September to October 2023, prices for those products decreased by 1.9 per cent, decreased by 0.5 per cent and increased by four per cent respectively.
Fresh or frozen beef prices grew by 9.9 per cent year-over-year, while they increased by 0.3 per cent from September to October 2023.
The price of tomatoes increased the most from September to October 2023, at 6.6 per cent.
FOODS WITH SLOWING INFLATION RATE
Four categories of food — lettuce, bananas, fresh or frozen pork, and flour and flour-based mixes — decreased in price year-over-year in October.
The price of lettuce dropped 8.3 per cent, the price of bananas and fresh or frozen pork fell by 1.9 per cent, and the cost of flour and flour-based mixes decreased by 1.2 per cent.
Meanwhile, from September to October 2023, lettuce increased in price by 2.5 per cent, banana prices remained unchanged, fresh or frozen pork dropped in price by 3.9 per cent, and flour and flour-based mixes dropped in price by 6.6 per cent.
On a month-over-month basis, several other food product categories saw a drop in price.
The largest decrease was seen in the “other fresh vegetables” category at 10.9 per cent, followed by apples at 10.3 per cent.