The cost of the grocery basket, which saw a sharp increase in 2024, could stabilize and even decrease in 2025, according to agri-food industry specialist at Dalhousie University, Sylvain Charlebois.
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However, it is premature to declare victory, warns the expert. He emphasizes that the adoption of a code of conduct for grocers this year has not yet changed much on consumers' grocery bills.
“We hope that 2025 will be a different year, of course, because there we will in fact create a secretariat. The code will be enforced, of course. We will discipline the chain. What this means for consumers is that we risk seeing more stable prices at the store. For what? Because there, currently, there are companies, we will call them, Walmart and Loblaws, which impose their law within the chain and that creates a lot, a lot of volatility,” affirmed Mr. Charlebois, in an interview on the LCN waves.
“Prices fluctuate wildly because of that, and then obviously all of that affects retail prices. What we hope is that we can actually give a way, particular attention to manufacturers who have difficulty dealing with Loblaws. We can settle disputes and by settling these disputes, it could cost consumers less in the long term,” he added.
On the other hand, the boycott of Loblaws, Provigo and Maxi, in Quebec, but especially elsewhere in Canada, may not have prevented the food giants from making profits, but will still have had an impact on the industry, believes Sylvain Charlebois.
“There is concern within the industry. We want to listen to consumers, we want to make changes. Moreover, we learned this week that the five senior executives at Metro saw their salaries reduced by 10% in 2024. There, we really see that we are paying attention,” he explains.
To see the full interview, watch the video above.
