Food inflation eased last month, but prices still high: StatCan
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Grocery price inflation slowed in Canada last month, but costs remained elevated above the headline inflation rate, according to Statistics Canada data released Tuesday.
The rate of inflation for grocery prices eased to 5.8 per cent year-over-year in September, compared to a 6.9 per cent increase in August. But that was higher than the annual headline inflation rate, which fell to 3.8 per cent from four per cent in August.
Statistics Canada said the deceleration in food costs stemmed from year-over-year slowdowns in price growth for meat, which rose 4.4 per cent, dairy products, which rose four per cent, and coffee and tea, which rose 2.7 per cent.
“Large monthly gains in September 2022, when grocery prices increased at the fastest pace in 41 years, fell out of the 12-month movements and put downward pressure on the indexes,” the agency said Tuesday.
Oil tankers are crossing the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s actions to choke traffic through the shipping route have not hurt the U.S. economy, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNBC on Tuesday, reiterating the Trump administration’s position that the war should be over in weeks, not months.
Canada’s annual inflation rate slowed in February to 1.8 per cent, but many economists believe the new Statistics Canada data may be the dip before a spike driven by oil prices and the war in Iran.
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Canadian and U.S. stock markets gained ground on Wednesday as oil prices fell and tech stocks rose on both sides of the border.
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Daily oil exports from the Middle Eastern Gulf, home to top exporter Saudi Arabia and other major producers, have dropped by at least 60 per cent in the week to March 15 compared to February due to disruptions and output cuts amid the U.S.-Iran war, according to shipping data and Reuters calculations.
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Member countries of the International Energy Agency could release more oil into the market later “as and if needed” after they have already agreed the largest-ever reserve release, Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Monday.
Oil prices are down, and stocks are up Monday, though such moves have been quick to reverse since the war in Iran began.
Statistics Canada says the annual rate of inflation dipped below two per cent in February as the end of last year’s federal “tax holiday” helped take some steam out of the yearly price comparisons.
Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds and state-backed companies are unlikely to scale back renewable energy investments in Africa despite disruptions from the Iran war, analysts say, given the strong long-term economic and strategic reasons driving such funding.
Crude oil stayed above US$100 a barrel on Monday and Gulf countries reported more attacks by Iran as the war entered its third week, while share prices were mixed.