Prices for many foods coming down, but inflation has left a legacy [Video]

Prince Edward Islanders may have noticed prices for some groceries falling in the last few months, but the pain of inflation over the last three years has not disappeared.

In some cases, prices gathered by Statistics Canada show significant drops recently.

From August to February, beef prices fell 16.4 per cent, bread and grains are down 9.8 per cent, and frozen produce is down 7.4 per cent. Prices of those three commodities, however, remain high compared to January of 2021, up between 17 to almost 30 per cent.

More relief may be on the way, however. 

“Consumers are retreating. They’re just not spending the same amount of money at the grocery store,” said Prof. Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

“We are seeing food sales stagnating while the population is growing. That’s a bad sign for grocers, for sure. To actually get people back in stores you need to revisit your …