Canadians shocked to see strawberries selling for more than $10 a basket. Why the high price? - National Post
Homegrown strawberries are selling at high prices in Canada. Photo by Julia Wilson/X.comArticle contentSeeing $17 or even $9 price tags for homegrown strawberries has some Canadians stopping in their tracks. Even the imported ones from the United States and Mexico have gone up in price.
In recent inflation numbers for May, the price of berries (including cherries) increased 2.1 per cent year-over-year. According to new data, you could be paying even more for strawberries, with double-digit monthly percentage increases in some cities.
Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab found that overall strawberries have become more expensive over the past month, with the average retail price for a 454-gram package sitting at $5.73 in June — a 4.9 per cent increase from May. In its analysis of grocerypulse.ca data, the lab looked at averages of regular retail prices across the country.
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It noted several reasons for higher strawberry prices, including softer-than-usual California production due to weather and supply issues, local crops still ramping up and strong demand. Toronto was the city that showed the biggest percentage increase, at 12.6 per cent ($6.18), followed by Charlottetown at 10.4 per cent ($6.24), and Winnipeg at 5.8 per cent ($5.90).
The Canadian dollar is weaker than last year, which is impacting importers’ buying power, says Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab. And when it comes to strawberries, particularly in the summer, demand is strong.
“We’re hardwired to look for strawberries in June, and grocers know that. So, there’s a bit of a premium that actually comes along with strawberry demand when consuming strawberries in June and early July. So basically, it has nothing to do with costs. It has more to do with consumer pressures,” says Charlebois. “Grocers will actually set prices based on what they think the market can bear.”
With strawberry season at its peak in parts of the country, price has snapped into focus. Paying nearly $20 for the pleasure of local, field-grown berries amid rising food inflation and insecurity may seem extreme. Yet, while they might look comparable on the surface, the experience of eating domestically grown and imported strawberries is often a world apart.
