Home industry food-and-beverage Food and Beverages in Canada Are Taken Over By Sugar and Soft Drinks
Food And Beverage
CIO Bulletin
2024-10-03
Rising sales of sugar, confectionery, and non-alcoholic soft drinks drive Canada’s food and beverage sector to growth in 2024.
The midyear update of the Farm Credit Canada (FCC) Food and Beverage Report says sales of sugar and confectionery products and non-alcoholic soft drinks will drive growth in Canada's food and beverage sector in the months ahead. A 16.9 accretion over 2023 can be projected from both demand and input sides of sugar and confectionery consumption.
This year Canadians are spending more on food and non-alcoholic beverages in comparison to last year, said Amanda Norris, the FCC’s Senior Economist. But she said retail prices are still much higher than they were four years earlier, leading to a mixed overall consumption pattern.
The first forecast for 2024 was a 1.4 percent decline in sales, but it’s improved to 0.7 percent as a slight uptick. In the first half of last year, more food categories, including bakery items, dairy, seafood, were selling more; but experts are worried that the gains may not carry on the rest of the year, as commodity prices stabilize.
Beverage sales in the first half fell 6.6 percent, but are still expected to recover through robust non-alcoholic soft drink sales. But wine sales are expected to slump to 2019 levels after big increases during the pandemic.
Inflationary pressures may ease overall soft sales in food and beverage, says Norris for the next five years. Manufacturers, retailers and distributors are responding in part by discount stores, private labels and value size offerings. Even in 2025 gross margins for the sector should improve more substantially as input costs stabilize.
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