Here's why you're paying more for these 5 items, according to experts

As you've probably noticed, many things are expensive right now. CBC News looked at the cost of five items people purchase regularly, and talked to business owners and industry experts about what's behind the surging prices.

Mark Lamming, co-owner of Purebread bakery in Vancouver and Whistler, says their raspberry white chocolate scone now costs $5, a 5 per cent increase from its previous $4.75 — while the cost of making it has gone up by nearly 18 per cent.

People may be paying more for their favourite treats because of the price of ingredients, he says, which has gone up by about 10 to 15 per cent each month in the last two years. The price of flour, for example, has gone up 70 per cent, he adds.

"It just seems to be that the supply chain is really under pressure and the demand has come back faster," Lamming said. 

Vancouver's Kanadell Japanese Bakery also increased the price of their baked goods this month, says owner Keiko Nakanishi, as flour, eggs and butter are now more expensive.

According to Tony Llewwellyn, sales director at Snow Cap Enterprises Ltd., drought in the prairies last summer devastated wheat crops, reducing supply and driving up the cost of flour. Snow Cap is a B.C.-based food distribution company from which Purebread and Kanadell source most of their ingredients.

Dairy is also more expensive because the cost of feeding livestock has gone up, Llewwellyn adds.

Though the company mostly sources B.C. products, occasionally they source from other provinces or out of the country. When this happens, transportation costs — including fuel surcharges and service fees — also drive prices up. Llewellyn says they've seen about a 200 per cent increase in shipment costs from North America and Europe, forcing companies like Snow Cap to pass on costs to small business owners.

"There's nothing wrong with enterprise, but this is the wrong time to charge those substantial rates," he said, adding there should be more government regulation over the fees transportation companies charge to avoid price gouging.

In January, Rick Ripoli of Stylus Made To Order Sofas spoke to CBC about the challenges furniture companies are facing, including cost increases for materials, supply shortages and longer wait times for items to arrive.

Things haven't changed, he says. Pre-pandemic, a shipping container of raw materials from Asia cost Ripoli about $1,800. In March, he paid $15,000.

Trevor Heaver, professor emeritus at University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business, says a shopping surge in 2021 is partly to blame for the massive increase in shipping container costs.

Heaver says North American ports became severely congested because workers on the ground could only work so quickly. 

"So it's not just a matter of how fast you can unload the ship, but how fast you can move commodity boxes across terminals and how many hours warehouses are open to receive the boxes and what capacity they have to empty and return the boxes," he said.