Fresh fruits and vegetables have become less available to Canadians in 2022, due to factors including ongoing supply chain issues, labor shortages and price increases, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday. Canada.
According to the federal agency, the amount of fresh fruit available has decreased by more than 5% in 2022 compared to the previous year, to 72.9 kilograms per person.
Although there was a 12.7 percent increase in domestic fruit production, this did not keep pace with rising exports and falling imports, the government said. agency.
The availability of fresh vegetables — excluding potatoes — was 64.7 kilograms per person in 2022, down almost 6% from 2021.
Similar to fruit, increases in vegetable production in Canada in 2022 were not enough to keep up with rising exports and falling imports, according to Statistics Canada.
The agency pointed out that some sectors of the Canadian food industry saw record production in 2022, but also exported more food products than the previous year.
She added that the entire industry has been impacted by pandemic-related supply chain issues, such as shipping delays and labor and product shortages.
Statistics Canada also cited price increases as one of the disruptive factors. Extreme weather conditions, the war in Ukraine and energy costs severely affected global food prices last year.
Food inflation was stubbornly high in Canada in 2022, outpacing headline inflation. The prices of products sold in grocery stores rose 9.8% in 2022 compared to 2021, registering their fastest increase since 1981.
According to the Statistics Canada report, the amount of milk available to Canadians also decreased by almost 4% in 2022, compared to the previous year, which was mainly attributed to a decrease in milk production of 1%. and 2% milk.
In contrast, the availability of red meat increased by 4.3% in 2022, fueled by beef and a rise in cattle slaughter from the previous year. The quantity of poultry available to Canadians increased by 1.5%.