Potato leads retail food prices higher in Canada

Potatoes are 55 per cent more expensive now than a year ago, Statistics Canada says, and grocery prices overall rose more in March than at any time in the past 28 years.

Potato prices are particularly hot, but double-digit increases have been recorded for canned and fresh fish, ice cream, cereal, rice, pasta, fruit, nuts, fresh vegetables, cooking oil and non-alcoholic drinks.

Overall, groceries were 9.5 per cent more expensive in March than a year ago, the biggest increase since September 1981.

So even as sagging demand among Canadian consumers has given retailers little pricing power in most areas of sales, grocery bills are eating up a bigger part of shrinking household budgets.

The reasons? There are several, ranging from the Canadian dollar, to crop conditions, to global food commodity prices to the nature of grocery demand.