Food prices set to rise another 5-7% in 2023 after record inflation year: report

The latest Canada Food Price Report estimates further increases to food prices next year will add hundreds of dollars to the average family's annual expenses.

After a year that saw food prices climb by numbers not seen in decades due to record inflation, the cost of groceries in Canada is expected to continue rising in 2023, a new report suggests.

The latest Canada Food Price Report released Monday estimates food prices will increase by another five to seven per cent on average next year, adding hundreds of dollars to the average family’s annual expenses.

“Living is expensive, and we are not bringing good news,” Samantha Taylor, a senior instructor of accountancy at Dalhousie University and one of the researchers behind the report, acknowledged in an interview with Global News.

The report predicts price hikes will be seen across all food groups, but expects vegetables to see the biggest cost increase of six to eight per cent. The cost of eating out at restaurants is set to go up four to six per cent, along with the price of seafood.

Fruit prices are expected to see the smallest bump of up to five per cent, while every other category — meat, bakery products and dairy — will go up between five and seven per cent.

Researchers say a typical family of four will be forced to shell out an average of $16,288 on food over the course of 2023 — an increase of $1,065 from this year. A two-adult household will spend $7,711, a bump of more than $500 from 2022.

Those increases will come as food inflation remains above 10 per cent, according to the most recent Statistics Canada figures released last month. October saw food prices rise by 10.1 per cent, down slightly from the 10.3 per cent hike in September.

The rate of food inflation exceeded researchers’ predictions in the last Food Price Report, which anticipated a five to seven per cent bump for 2022 — a number Taylor noted was seen as “relatively high” and “aggressive.”