Another affordability threshold has been surpassed with some whole chickens in the metro region selling at more than $20 this week.
That’s a shocker even to Sylvain Charlebois of Dalhousie’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab.
He says as of yesterday, the average price for a whole chicken in Canada was $3.74 per pound, which makes the prices here even more surprising.
“So, it’s way more than $5 a pound which is really getting up there. And frankly, it’s problematic, because we do have supply management in Canada. Poultry is supply managed; we are expecting to see more stable prices at the meat counter, especially for poultry.”
He believes feed that must be imported into the province and the associated transportation costs are contributing to high prices.
While beef is excessively expensive right now, poultry is always considered to be much more affordable.
“Beef is very expensive, but beef is free market, same for pork, but chicken, we’re not supposed to see prices increasing more than say, 3 per cent a year. That would be the average, tops. But right now, this year we’re flirting with 10 per cent.”
Some grocers have since adjusted their prices and dropped them down to more affordable levels.
