Canadians Panic As Food Prices Soar On Collapsing Currency
It was just yesterday when we documented the continuing slide in the loonie, which is suffering mightily in the face of oil’s inexorable decline.
As regular readers are no doubt acutely aware, Canada is struggling through a dramatic economic adjustment, especially in Alberta, the heart of the country’s oil patch. Amid the ongoing crude carnage the province has seen soaring property crime, rising food bank usage and, sadly, elevated suicide rates, as Albertans struggle to comprehend how things up north could have gone south (so to speak) so quickly.
The plunging loonie “can only serve to worsen the death of the 'Canadian Dream'" we said on Tuesday.
As it turns out, we were right.
The currency's decline is having a pronounced effect on Canadians' grocery bills.
As Bloomberg reminds us, Canada imports around 80% of its fresh fruits and vegetables. When the loonie slides, prices for those goods soar. "With lower-income households tending to spend a larger portion of income on food, this side effect of a soft currency brings them the most acute stress" Bloomberg continues.
Of course with the layoffs piling up, you can expect more households to fall into the "lower-income" category where they will have to fight to afford things like $3 cucumbers, $8 cauliflower, and $15 Frosted Flakes.
As Bloomberg notes, James Price, director of Capital Markets Products at Richardson GMP, recently joked during an interview on BloombergTV Canada that "we're going to be paying a buck a banana pretty soon."
Have a look at the following tweets which underscore just how bad it is in Canada's grocery aisles. And no, its not just Nunavut: it from coast to coast:
Three bucks. For a cucumber. pic.twitter.com/xGkygxkxqB
— Steve Ladurantaye (@sladurantaye) January 12, 2016
If the CAD $ gets any weaker we might be able to buy groceries with shiny rocks #Canada
— Josh Landine (@joshlandine) January 12, 2016
@sladurantaye Heh. Had a similar reaction when I saw the price of cauliflower. Welcome to the future… pic.twitter.com/fxloxyePY3
— Craig Saila (@saila) January 12, 2016
The cost of Tide detergent in Nunavut: pic.twitter.com/2t2xA1EmYk
— themsteri (@teririch) December 31, 2015
And while some Canadians might think this is a regional phenomenon ...
... folks in the northern parts of the Great White North do have the most cause to cry foul:
No "Jack Nasty" it's not The Great Depression, but as we highlighted three weeks ago, it is Canada's depression and it's likely to get worse before it gets better. "Last year, fruits and veggies jumped in price between 9.1 and 10.1 per cent, according to an annual report by the Food Institute at the University of Guelph," CBC said on Tuesday. "The study predicts these foods will continue to increase above inflation this year, by up to 4.5 per cent for some items."
If you thought we were being hyperbolic when we suggested that if oil prices don't rise soon, Canadians may well eat themselves to death, consider the following from Diana Bronson, the executive director of Food Secure Canada:
"Lower- and middle-class people — many who can't find a job that will pay them enough to ensure that they can afford a healthy diet for their families" — also feel the pinch of rising food prices"
"The wrong kind of food is cheap, and the right kind of food is still expensive."
In other words, some now fear that the hardest hit parts of the country may experience a spike in obesity rates as Canadians resort to cheap, unhealthy foods. As we put it, "in Alberta it's 'feast or famine' in the most literal sense of the phrase as those who can still afford to buy food will drown their sorrows in cheap lunch meat and off-brand ice cream while the most hard hit members of society are forced to tap increasingly overwhelmed food banks."
And the rub is that there's really nothing anyone can do about it.
Were the Bank of Canada to adopt pro-cyclical measures to shore up the loonie, they would risk choking off economic growth just as the crude downturn takes a giant bite out of the economy - no food pun intended.
(59 votes)
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Tough going to tougher. Shop at the farmers markets.
At the local farmers market they say the best produce goes to China. Even the dungeness crabs they sell in Vancouver have only one claw. The undeformed crabs go to China.
And they can't even buy fractal broccoli!
The reverse of the coin is that the buying power of the Canadian currency was sucked away by government mandates and expenses. So, the Canadian government does what everyone else is; ^P beetches.
The reverse of the coin is that the buying power of the Canadian currency was sucked away by government mandates and expenses. So, the Canadian government does what everyone else is; ^P beetches.
No panic in Montreal :)
ANd the 1% and their pet idiots at the Fed keep telling us how good inflation is.
A crying fucking shame.
Even more reason for worldwide revolt against the oligarchs, bankfuckigarchs, and shitheadigarchs
Strengthening dollar making food too expensive in places that eat our exported food. Similar to the food price spikes that gave rise to the Arab Spring, but now for places like Canada. Mess with food, people get uppity.
Not seen anything like those prices in Costco. Cucmbers where CAD$3.70 for 3 today so about CAD$1.25 each. Cauliflower was CAD$5 for 2lbs of chopped. Grapefruit is still CAD$4 for 5lbs. Eggs from the local farmer are CAD$4 a dozen.
Welcome to Kanukistan...
I'll bet Phoney Star is liquidating some of it's BTC horde. [ dollar cost averaging]
You're a fucking imbecile. Stick to your shitty Mrs Watanabe-style FX trading prowess and enjoy the hundreds of yen you make each year. Troll.
Butthurt?
usd/cad @ .0060 eventually.
Maybe you convince that socialist assclown to split Canada in half? I want to see you succeed.
Cool story bro. I have a natural hedge with USD, unlike your speculating ass who's worried about every pip every second of the day.
Good for you. I wish you the best, on your trading strategy.
What exactly is that" natural hedge"? I'm guessing it's commodity based.
That's a good trade...
A natural hedge between two shrubberies with a path down the middle.
Haha! Agreed...sometimes shaved ;)
Don't worry 'Zero Power'. Back in 99-02 the usd/cad was trading the 60's handle.
I was visting Niagra Falls, with Broom Hilda...
Yup, it sure was. I have no beef with you, sir. Just dislike articles that spread lies and get the whole bandwagon here to jump on and yell fire.
Nunavut is literally at the end of the world. Of course laundry soap is going to be $20 a bottle. Transporting food and goods to anyone who has to or foolishly wants to live up there is astronomically expensive.
Having said that food inflation has been high this year. Buying steaks for a saturday BBQ has doubled in price.
I heard a radio program that interviewed locals in Tuktoyuktuk and many of them found it cheaper to buy grocieres from Amazon and have it shipped (thanks free shipping to the Arctic Circle) than to shop at the local market. Says more about Amazon's business model than it does about Canadian food inflation, IMO.
Look on a map where Tuktoyuktuk and Nunuvut are. They are romote locations. Noone in Toronto, MOntreal Vancouver ect would buy groceries from Amazon. It's amazing at the lack of understanding here..
I live near Vancouver. I have bought groceries from AMZN many times. It often works out cheaper. Why would you not? Cereal is like $5 for a large box. Buy 5, fredd delivery.
what's literally at the beginning of the world?
Tel Aviv?
I took the time to look, what our Canadian friend appears to be true, here's New Brunswick:
http://www.atlanticsuperstore.ca/en_CA/flyers.banner@ATL.storenum@329.fl...
Tsk tsk Tyler ;-)
The atlantic Superstore /Loblaws is the high end retailer here.. in you link I found becel Margarine listed at $4.99 for 907 g for example in a flyer I got today here in Troonto I can buy the same product for $2.99 40% cheaper.... lots of examples like that ...
Higher prices in canada mean that their medical bills are getting paid.
How much is beer now? 25. loonies a sixer?
Great Caeser's Ghost! It's going south! Out of control! No?
About CAD$8 a six.
Where the hell are you? lol
And when it all collapses we will be treated to the consequences of this......
http://beforeitsnews.com/global-unrest/2016/01/the-lion-is-it-time-to-fi...
eat your fucking politicians while they're still cheap! heh...............
Bernanke, Krugman and Yellen must be completely erect at the amount of inflation and consumer devastation/pain. The more capital misallocation, the bigger the bubble, the more currency destruction the better according to these lunatics.
I read on these posts that this is an isolated event in one area of Canada...So, anyone in bigger cities that are saying this, please note to us what food prices are in your area...maybe not 2 cucumbers for 6 bucks, but I bet it isnt too far away...and yes, it will come to the U.S. soon enough...My suggestion to all of you is to look at countries that are falling and take heed...Keep money out of the banks, have a bit of physical metals, but mostly food supply and ammo and etc...organic food is sky high in the U.S. but monsanto food is kind of cheap...Until you get diseases from monsanto food then you need obamacare
Spread over an area the size of Western Europe, Nunavut has a population of less than 30,000, mostly Inuit. Nunavut is also home to the town of Alert, the northernmost permanent settlement in the world. Just 508 miles from the North Pole, Alert has five permanent inhabitants according to the 2006 census.
Therefore extrapolating grocery shopping in Nunavut to grocery shopping in Canada is being somewhat of a hyperventilating journalistic whore. Good luck with that, TylersI rarely shop for food anymore unless I want a treat. 1/2 acre garden, milk cow, 40 sheep, 30 chickens and we grow our own hay, pasture and grain. Heat with wood from our woods too.
If you depend too much on the system, you go down with the ship.
A legitimate question: With the woods you're getting wood from, are you doing any sort of forest stewardship, or replanting of trees? Or are you letting seeds fall where they do, and then just removing saplings where too many exist to make room for fewer trees to grow better? I only ask because unless people are replanting trees that they've felled, I can see a few lean years at some point.
I take dead, dying or diseased trees only. This clears the forest for more healthy growth. Even if I was taking live trees the natural replacement rate in my area is about 1/3 of a cord per acre. No replanting necessary unless you're clear cutting.
USD-CAD 1.44
Now wonder Canadian hookers tour the US more than US hookers tour Canada.
ah, also add the spread
This article is horse shit. Photos are from Nunavut where these groceries have to be flown thousands of miles because there are no roads that far north (think Arctic Ocean people). Deliberately meant to mislead readers.
You mean the Ice Road Truckers can't truck it up that far ??? Say it ain't so !!!
Spread over an area the size of Western Europe, Nunavut has a population of less than 30,000, mostly Inuit. Nunavut is also home to the town of Alert, the northernmost permanent settlement in the world. Just 508 miles from the North Pole, Alert has five permanent inhabitants according to the 2006 census.
Therefore extrapolating grocery shopping in Nunavut to grocery shopping in Canada is being somewhat of a hyperventilating journalistic whore. Good luck with that, TylersBlame Canada.... With their beady little eyes....Blame Canada!
Nobody is panicing in Canada. The currency has only lost 1.4% of its value in the past year, which is less than the 2% target for loss of value. Higher prices for food are being offset by lower prices on energy. Please Zerohedge, you will damage your credibility if you keep being bamboozled by articles such as this.
what an idiot statement with a 69 cent Cdn dollar
I don't know if ZH has jumped on this story yet. But today Putin and his officials made a public announcement concerning negative impacts on Russias economy. Instead of telling lies, Putin and his government walked right out and told the truth. Russia is facing one of it's worst potential economic shocks going forward. The collapse of oil prices and Russian over dependence on oil revenues, plus the European sanctions put on by orders of Washington combine to require painful adjustments away for oil revenues and a costly bid to move economics to replace imports and adapt to sanctions.
This plain speaking is not what Washington does, as you all know.
Putin also cited the rest of teh world as being the third major shock to Russia's economy. A general world wide, and Chinese shock is hurting Russia just as Canada, Austrailia and Europe.
You will notice where the strength still lies. The US Dollar. As long as the USA is the only nation allowed to print it's welath without inflation or dollar devaluation on the currency markets. The USA will ride high, no matter a recession, it will be mild compared to the shit storm on the rest of the world.
UNLESS! The bankers fiat system explodes at home. That could take the USA down. All we can do is wait to see.
Let me tell you, I live right near the Canadian border. And to see Canadians panic, it must be some serious shit going down up there!
Jack Burton, you're usually too smart for this. Did you really believe this BS article?
I enjoy reading your posts...what I got most from this one is the honesty that putin talks...I believe, no matter how bad things may get, being honest always makes you a winner in the end...take care jackmeister. :-)
incidentally tomorrow is the Orthodox New Year in Russia. Don't expect to see the same thing happening in Red Square as occurred in Germany. Russian men would act somewhat differently