If you’ve recently balked at the butter, coughed at the coffee or choked in the chocolate aisle, you’re not alone.
Food costs have been soaring for more than a year, with grocery inflation generally trending upward since April 2024, according to Statistics Canada. Shoppers paid four per cent more at the grocery store in September compared with the same period last year.
But some items have dinged our wallets more than others. Beef, coffee and confectionary are among some of the worst offenders, but what else is contributing to your grocery bills?
Let’s break out some of the most expensive grocery items and explain why they cost so much.
Coffee is No. 1
You know what they say about the ones you love the most, right? Well, coffee has been hurting us with skyrocketing prices for months now.
The price of coffee increased 28.6 per cent over the past year — more than any other food item tracked by Statistics Canada’s consumer price index. And it gets worse when you separate out “real” coffee from the instant stuff. Roasted or ground coffee prices rose 41 per cent in September compared with September last year.
Statistics Canada’s retail data showed that the average monthly price of 340 grams of roasted or ground coffee has shot up 34 per cent since January alone. One of those big tubs (864 grams) of Maxwell House ground coffee cost $20 at Loblaws when CBC News searched online on Monday, and a 915-gram tub of Nabob Bold cost a whopping $35.99 at Sobeys.
Even Tim Hortons had to raise the price of a cup of coffee for the first time in three years this month, confirming with CBC News that it was adjusting its price by “about three cents per cup.”
But why? Well, earlier this year, global prices hit record highs due to supply issues in major producing countries such as Brazil and Vietnam.
At the same time, U.S. tariffs on goods from Brazil have upended the global coffee market, pushing prices upwards.
Canadians paid nearly 30 per cent more for their grocery store coffee in August compared with a year ago, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent report on consumer inflation. It mirrors when the price of a cup of joe tripled in the mid 1990s, after weather in Brazil, Indonesia and East Africa led to a bad global harvest.
A beef with beef
Next on the list? Meat in general, and beef more than any other.
The price of fresh or frozen beef rose 14 per cent year over year in September. Nearly every style or cut of beef saw double-digit price increases (the exception, if you can call it that, was fresh or frozen beef hip cuts, which saw a 9.9 per cent price increase since 2024).
But ground beef, fresh or frozen, was the worst offender, rising in price by 17.4 per cent in a year. Statistics Canada’s retail data showed that the average monthly price of ground beef was $15.06 per kilogram in August.
CBC News searched fresh lean ground beef prices at a few grocery stores online on Monday, and one kilogram cost $22.02 at Loblaws and at Metro, and $19.82 per kilogram at Sobeys (on sale from $21.58 a kilogram). A pack of 12 four-ounce No Name frozen beef burgers cost $18 at Loblaws and $14.99 at Food Basics.
Those high prices are because persistent droughts are shrinking herds in Western Canada, and the cost for feed is higher.
We are sorry to tell you that the price of bacon also contributed to the rising cost of meat, shooting up 8.2 per cent year over year. Canned salmon was also notable, with an 8.3 per cent price increase.
The cost of beef products in Canada continues to creep higher, largely because consecutive years of drought in Alberta and Saskatchewan have forced cattle farmers to raise smaller herds, meaning less meat to go around.
Nuts are nuts
Thinking of cutting your financial losses and getting your protein intake from nuts? Think again.
At 15.7 per cent year over year, nuts and seeds actually saw higher inflation in September than fresh or frozen beef. With dried and dehydrated fruit also up 10.9 per cent, your favourite trail mix may seem like a luxury item these days (a bag at Loblaws costs $18 right now).
There are a few reasons for the nutty price surge. For instance, Canada imports most of its nuts from the United States, where many nut growers saw a smaller harvest than usual in 2024. Some nuts, like pistachios, also saw a huge increase in demand.
As FoodCom’s Global Nuts Market overview points out, climate change, logistics costs and food trends (hello, pistachio!) all played a role. And then there’s politics — Trump’s tariffs also caused economic turmoil in the nut industry over the past year.
Dubai chocolate went viral on TikTok and has contributed to a global pistachio shortage. Pam Williams of Ecole Chocolat says such trends are the future of chocolate making, because it mixes high-quality ingredients that people love.
Not chocolate, too!
We’re sorry. But the sweets aisle isn’t looking great, either. Prices for confectionery, which includes chocolate, were up 10.4 per cent in September compared with a year earlier, Statistics Canada said.
Cocoa prices have more than doubled over the past two years due to poor weather and disease in West Africa, which supplies more than 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa, the Associated Press explains.
Reuters adds that wholesale cocoa prices have eased from late 2024 peaks, but manufacturers are still passing on their increased costs to consumers.
The news agency also explains that companies are reducing seasonal product lines and implementing “shrinkflation” — something you may have noticed while picking up Halloween candy this year.
OJ is not OK
Fruit juices were also up in September, with prices increasing 10.5 per cent compared with a year earlier.
Orange juice prices have always been volatile, as The Associated Press notes.
Prices fall when bumper harvests create an oversupply of oranges and rise when frost or a hurricane knocks out fruit trees.
The monthly average retail price for a two-litre carton shot up in August to $6.29 from $5.62 in January. Apple juice, by comparison, has stayed relatively flat, hovering near $3.85 for months.
Berries and cucumbers
Finally, we have good news bad news.
Let’s start with the good. Amid a month of mostly rising prices, a few actually dropped — but none more than berries, which fell 13 per cent compared with prices in September last year.
This could be due to a few potential factors: increased domestic production (especially cranberries, strawberries and blueberries, according to Agriculture Canada), plus a surge of blueberry imports from Morocco this past spring.
But now, the bad news: While most foods experience some kind of fluctuation month-to-month, cucumber, of all things, was a real doozy. In September, the price of cucumber increased 24.7 per cent compared with a month earlier — the biggest by far of any monthly change.
Cucumber prices only increased 2.2 per cent year over year, so what the heck happened between August and September? It’s actually pretty simple, according to the Financial Post: The local growing season for cucumber typically ends in September, so less supply drives up prices. Plus, more of them will be imported, which also boosts the price.
From August to September 2024, for instance, cucumber prices rose 16 per cent (compared with 6.2 per cent year over year). And when you look at the monthly average retail price going back five years, cucumber prices are seasonal — increasing in the fall, peaking in the winter and falling in the spring.
