In this period of food inflation, consumers had two good reasons to rejoice this week.
• Also read: His meat costs him half as much since he cuts it himself
• Also read: Hundreds of requests per day: the pressure is already high for Christmas baskets
• Also read: Flyer battle: deals not to be missed on beef
First, the Canadian Dairy Commission announced a reduction of 0.0237%, or less than one cent per liter of milk sold to processors.
“I think it’s the third time in 50 years. It’s rare, it’s very rare that this happens,” emphasized the agri-food industry specialist at Dalhousie University, Sylvain Charlebois, in interviews with LCN.
The latter estimates that the drop in the price of cereals as well as the increased performance of farms explain this drop in the price of milk sold to processors.
However, we should not expect a drop in the price of milk at the grocery store, specifies the expert, even if this announcement constitutes good news for consumers.
“We may not see such significant increases in the dairy section of grocery stores. Over the past year, yogurt, milk, cheese and everything has increased by 5 to 8%. So, we really needed this good news,” says Sylvain Charlebois.
“In Quebec, the agricultural market board must rule on retail prices. Quebec is the only province in Canada that sets floor and ceiling prices for liquid milk. We should learn what the management’s decision will be, probably in December or January,” he adds.
LCN screenshot
Maxi is expanding…into smaller areas
The Maxi banner, which belongs to the Loblaws company, also pleased several Quebecers by announcing the opening of several new stores in 2025, including several smaller stores.
“At Loblaws, we are not afraid of stealing sales from our own stores. So, we can open a small format Maxi or Maxi store without being afraid of stealing sales from another store that is not too far away and which also belongs to Loblaws. “It’s really the first time I’ve heard a grocer say that in Canada,” says Sylvain Charlebois.
These smaller Maxi grocery stores will increase competition and help keep food prices lower for a while, the expert believes.
This also denotes an increasingly aggressive strategy on the part of Maxi (Loblaws) and Super C (Metro) to offer more banners at discounts.
And this trend should push the giant Costco to redouble its efforts, believes the food industry specialist.
“In the case of Cotsco, we are starting to consider new markets. We have 110 Costcos in Canada. I have the impression that we risk seeing a few new stores across Canada, including in Quebec,” he says.
To see the full interview, watch the video above.
