Metro shoppers should expect prices to rise for certain foods soon as the government-implemented freeze on supplier prices comes to an end.
Prices will begin to creep back up as early as next week Metro CEO Eric La Fleche said Tuesday during a virtual press conference.
“We are negotiating as best we can and delaying as much as we can some of the increases requested by our suppliers,” La Fleche said in a virtual news conference, the Canadian Press reported.
“Unfortunately, there will be some prices starting to go up,” he said.
Last October, François-Philippe Champagne, minister of innovation, science and industry, announced that the federal government had entered into a temporary agreement with Canada’s five largest grocers to stabilize skyrocketing food prices. The agreement is now nearing its end.
READ MORE: Measures to stabilize Canadian grocery prices to come into effect as soon as Thanksgiving
La Fleche warned that orange juice prices are expected to rise due to issues with the orange crop supply.
Similarly, food distribution Professor Sylvian Charlebois at Dalhousie University told Now Toronto that customers should expect the cost of non-perishable products to go up.
“Orange juice, sauces, oils, crackers and more are expected to see price increases over the next few weeks. This is a recurring annual trend, and unfortunately, it doesn’t benefit consumers much,” he said in an email statement.
La Fleche, however, offered some positive updates, confirming the number of requests from suppliers for price increases is significantly lower than it was this time last year, the Canadian Press reported.
The grocery chain also reported that its internal inflation rates were below the national average for December 2023 which was 4.7 per cent.
“Metro’s internal measure of inflation at its stores was below that in its latest quarter at four per cent and down from the previous quarter,” La Fleche said.
The announcement garnered mixed response online, with some saying they were unaware of the price freeze in the first place.
One X user said “was there a price freeze? Everything seems more expensive every time I go to the store.”
Others pointed out the irony in sharing record-breaking profits during a price freeze.
“GREED, ” one X user wrote.
“And they still post record-breaking profits during the quarters during the ‘price freeze.’ another user said.
Metro reported quarterly earnings of $228.5 million and sales of $4,974.2 million, up 6.5 per cent, the same day it announced in-store cost increases.
