OTTAWA (Staff) – Falling food prices this summer are helping drag Canada’s inflation rate to two-year lows.
Statistics Canada reported Aug. 16 that by the end of July, the Consumer Price Index had fallen to 1.2 percent, the lowest since January 1995. Part of the decline came from a 0.2 percent drop in the food price index.
Grocery store prices of fresh fruit and vegetables, bakery products, beef and pork fell. Chicken prices and the cost of restaurant meals rose.
The federal agency said part of the reason for the food price index decline was lower food prices in British Columbia, where stores were in a summer pricing war to win back customers after being closed during a labor dispute.
The July drop in food prices followed a 0.6 percent increase in June.
