Canadian grocers could be ready to increase prices

Wednesday was grocery day for Halifax resident Joanne Walsh and with prices fluctuating, her buying strategy has changed recently.

“I do look for sales, but I also go in and buy what I need, what I find I’ve run out of. I have looked at the flyers every once in a while,” says Walsh.

She might have to look even closer for deals in the coming days.

Canadian grocers are about to come out of their annual three-month price freeze on thousands of items.

“As of Feb. 1, which is tomorrow, we are expecting some products to increase in price,” says Sylvain Charlebois, the head of Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Lab.

Mostly on dry goods, according to Charlebois. He says prices could be going up by as much as five-to-10 per cent, but he suggests there might be a way to avoid those higher prices.

“You may end up actually deciding to buy a store brand for example. Store brands won’t increase in price,” he says.

To combat skyrocketing grocery bills across the country, federal Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne is courting international grocers, encouraging them to set up shop in Canada.

“Fundamentally what we need is more competition and that’s why I am talking to international grocers to make sure that you know they want to come to Canada,” Champagne says.

“I’m incredibly skeptical,” Charlebois says.

That's because if there was money to be made in the Canadian market, other grocery chains would already be here.

“That’s kind of where the minister should be going with this. Instead of just calling grocers to invest, you should actually create winning conditions for more competition,” says Charlebois.

“Canada is an expensive place to do business when it comes to food distribution.”

While prices could start to go up Thursday, Charlebois says it will likely take a week or so for any price changes to take effect.

Shopping carts at a Sobeys in Halifax are pictured. (Jonathan MacInnis/CTV News Atlantic)

At the beginning of the price freeze, a spokesperson for Empire Company Limited, which owns Sobeys, told CTV News they were working on a plan to stabilize food prices past February.

Empire did not respond to an email Wednesday asking if this is still the plan.