Food prices at the grocery store are continuing to rise in 2024, though at a slower rate than last year. And now Canadian consumers have an online tool to help them better understand food prices and the drivers of food inflation.

Launched in November 2023, the Food Price Data Hub provides Canadians with timely data on food prices in one centralized location. It’s the result of a collaboration between Statistics Canada, Industry, Science and Economic Development and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

The hub introduced an average retail food prices data visualization tool in January, which allows consumers to add items to their grocery cart, measure their prices and compare the total cost of their basket between regions, noted Matthew MacDonald, assistant director of the consumer prices division at Statistics Canada, who was part of the team that created the hub.

The hub’s main page also shows the monthly Canadian average retail price of 12 select foods, such as milk, white bread, butter, eggs, apples, white rice and potatoes.

MacDonald said the subset of 12 foods was pulled from a full list of some 100 items available per province.

The hub also provides the Consumer Price Index for food purchased from stores and the changes in food supply chain prices across three categories: (1) production, (2) processing and packaging, and (3) transportation, wholesale and retail.

The new data visualization tool comes just as Canada’s annual inflation rate fell to 2.8 per cent in February, with grocery prices up 2.4 per cent annually compared with 3.4 per cent in January.

The hub will be regularly updated to show the latest trends in food inflation and the average price of select staple foods.

Consumers Council of Canada will feature regular articles on how consumers can use the hub to better understand food prices and learn quirky facts.