Canadian shoppers, already paying more for bread, should expect meat prices to rise as well in the coming months as grain costs continue to hover near record levels, says an organization for the biggest grocers.
Products made from grain, including pasta, cereal and other flour-based foods, have already incorporated much of the higher price levels, Dave Wilkes, senior vice-president of trade at the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors, said yesterday.
But “downstream” foods — products from livestock that consume grain as feed — haven’t yet been fully impacted, Wilkes said. “As grains and corn go up, the cost to raise cattle, pigs, and poultry will also go up, and that will be translated into the cost of the final product.”
Wilkes said Canadians have already seen a 9.9 per cent rise in the price of a loaf of bread over the last year, tied directly to a 128 per cent increase in the cost of wheat. Bread is selling above $2.50 a loaf.
