Canada’s largest grocery retailer ends price freezes on popular generic house brand products.
Loblaw Companies Ltd. confirmed on Tuesday that the price freeze on No Name products will not be extended and will end after Tuesday as scheduled.
the company announced in October With food prices skyrocketing, we announced a three-month freeze on the prices of our own brands, including 1,500 groceries, until January 31st.
“During the price freeze, Canadians who chose no-names over name brands saved hundreds of millions of dollars, while food inflation continued and the cost of stocking shelves rose each month,” the company said. increase. said in a statement to CP24.
“Looking forward, we will continue to hold these prices for as long as we can, and switching to No Name will save thousands of the average family this year.”
Speaking to CP24 on Tuesday morning, Sylvain Charlevoix, director of Dalhousie University’s Institute for Agro-Food Analytics, said the price freeze on No Name products has prompted many consumers looking for cheaper alternatives. said that it was likely to have helped
“Food inflation remained well above 10%, so everything else was more expensive, but No Name branded products remained the same price,” Charlebois said.
Statistics Canada reported earlier this month that food prices rose 11% in December compared to a year ago. Meanwhile, the country’s food prices rose 9.8% over the last year, the fastest pace since 1981.
Charlebois said shoppers are becoming more strategic when it comes to buying food.
“Most people don’t have time to visit multiple stores a week. But what we’re seeing now is that more people are actually taking turns. You go to one store, then another the next week, and consumers are becoming more aware of what’s really going on,” he said.
Charlebois said consumers could see more deals in the spring, but expected price hikes, especially for dairy products, next month.
He said dairy farmers are getting a 2.2% increase in milk and butterfat. This means that dairy products will become more expensive.
“We typically see some uptick in February, but that is obviously up to Banner to decide whether or not to control prices. “We are doing it,” said Charlebois.
“Historically, February and March were average months when it came to food inflation, so it’s usually a wait-and-see game.”
– Using files from The Canadian Press
