Loblaw — Canada’s largest food and drug chain — said its internal gauge on inflation is trending even higher than the CPI. Chief financial officer Richard Dufresne said suppliers have been trying to negotiate higher prices for their products since the summer to offset major cost increases at the manufacturing level.
We cannot absorb these significant incremental costs, so we’re having to pass those on to the retailer, who is then, in turn, passing them onto the consumerFactories are being forced to offer higher wages to combat an industry-wide labour shortage, while drought and wildfires across western North America this summer drove down crop yields. Meanwhile, tightened supplies drove up the cost of commodities, from canola to beef.
Both Loblaw and Metro said the problems mean certain products have been put “on allocation” — an industry term that means manufacturers allocate a portion of their dwindling supplies to each retailer, rather than filling full orders. “What consumers will be frustrated to see is something’s in stock for a week, and then it’s out of stock for four or five weeks, then it comes in stock again and then it goes out. That’s really the consequence of this allocation approach,” Loblaw president Galen Weston said on a call with analysts. “We need to work hard to make sure we’re getting our share of the allocation, and I think we are.
As a senior I sure am feeling it in the wallet
What you really mean is as food industry profit soars
And Loblaws, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart all continue to post record profits....
Billionaires and bankers wanted to have their cake and eat it too for the last 13 years Everything is coming to a head now