Grocery prices continue to climb across Canada, and 2% milk is no exception.
Digital marketing agency Field Agent Canada is out with its latest fluid milk report.
It shows the cost of a four-litre jug of milk has increased by three per cent over the past year.
Jeff Doucette, general manager at Field Agent Canada, said Atlantic Canadians are paying the most.
“That really back to smaller markets and the milk quota system that’s put in place, where every province has a milk quota and the prices for milk that are paid are based on the cost that farmers have in those local areas to produce milk,” Doucette said in an interview.
“You have local dairy farmers and they’re producing milk locally, which is often seen as a benefit for consumers, but the result of their smaller operations means higher cost of production, and those higher costs are passed along to the consumers.”
Moncton, N.B., and Charlottetown, P.E.I., are the most expensive cities to buy milk, with a four-litre jug selling for an average of $8.34, or $2.09 per litre — 24 per cent higher than the national average.
In Sudbury, Ont., the least expensive location surveyed, you will get that same four-litre jug of milk for $6.03, or $1.51 per litre — 10 per cent below the national average.
Field Agent Canada also compared our prices to Walmart stores in the United States and found the average price per litre, adjusted to Canadian dollars, was 28 per cent less.
Doucette said they also compared the price of 2% cow’s milk in two-litre cartons to the 1.89-litre carton of Silk-brand Unsweetened Almond beverage.
They found the price gap between cow’s milk and almond milk had narrowed from 10 per cent in 2023 to 4.5 per cent in 2024.
“The dairy industry sort of risks pricing themselves out of the market when a product like Silk or one of those other plant-based brands is actually less, it could be less expensive than cow’s milk in the near future,” he said.
Not everyone can travel to Sudbury or the United States to take advantage of their milk prices, so Doucette offered some tips to save money.
“Buying bigger packages is cheaper for sure, so if you have the ability to go through four litres of milk before it spoils, then that’s a much more cost-effective purchase,” he said.
Doucette also recommended shopping around and trying to find deals at local retailers in your community.
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