A previous blog examined the rising price of consumer goods and services in B.C. and how prices have changed between January 2019, a year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and July 2024. This blog looks more closely at food, which makes up around 17% of all consumer spending. Together, food and shelter make up about half (49%) of the B.C. CPI basket (i.e., half of all spending for the average consumer). Respectively, food and shelter prices have risen by 27% and 29% over the period, well above the rate of total CPI inflation (21%). Another blog in this series digs deeper into what has happened to shelter costs in B.C..

Food inflation

Food prices in B.C. have risen by 27% from January 2019 to July 2024 (Figure 1). Had they tracked the Bank of Canada’s 2% per annum target rate for national inflation, they would have risen by only 12%. This means British Columbians have faced “excess” food inflation of 16% over the period.

Food prices in the CPI include food purchased from restaurants (up 24%) and food purchased from stores (up 29%). Among food items purchased from stores, consumers have been clobbered by substantial price hikes for common grocery items. This includes meat (36%), dairy products and eggs (30%), other foods and non-alcoholic beverages (30%), vegetables and vegetable preparations (30%), bakery and cereal products (28%), and fruit, fruit preparations and nuts (20%). The only category exhibiting modest inflation is fish, seafood and other marine products (8%).

Figure 1

The sharp rise in food prices has had profound repercussions for people’s well-being. According to data from Food Bank Canada, there were nearly 200,000 visits to B.C. food banks in 2023 (Table 1). This represents a 57% increase in the number of people visiting food banks between 2019 and 2023. Moreover, around one-third (32%) of visits in 2023 involved children under 18 years old (Figure 2). This is troubling considering children aged 0-17 years make up only 17% of B.C.’s population. It indicates that families are struggling to put food on the table.

Other overrepresented groups (relative to their population weights) visiting food banks are single people, people living in market rental housing, people reliant on government income supports, and recent immigrants. Notably, more than one-in-five visits (22%) to B.C. food banks are from people with employment income as their primary income source. This indicates that having a job is no guarantee of being able to put food on the table in B.C.

Nationally, around 27% of food bank visits in 2023 were from immigrants who have lived in Canada for less than 10 years. This share has doubled since 2016 when it was only around 13%. Food Banks Canada describes recent newcomers as “more likely to be working poor than people who are not recent newcomers” because they are more likely to be renters and people with unstable jobs, unpredictable work hours, and fewer employment-related benefits like health and dental insurance. These factors make recent immigrants particularly vulnerable to inflation (Food Bank Canada, 2024).

Table 1: Needs are soaring at B.C. food banks

Source: Food Banks Canada (2024)

Figure 2

Conclusion

Inflation has a very real human toll. Food and shelter make up about half of all spending for the average consumer. Runaway inflation in recent years, particularly for the necessities of life, has put significant pressure on British Columbian families. This is evidenced by the sharp rise in visits to B.C. food banks. Overrepresented groups visiting food banks include market renters, children, single people, people reliant on government income supports, and recent immigrants.  Another blog in this series examines shelter costs in more detail and offers some concluding thoughts.