Every market functions under supply and demand. To varying degrees, as demand increases, so do prices — if supply stays the same. If supply stays the same or grows but demand drops off, prices fall.
It’s a simplified explanation and in the real world several factors play into the total demand, total supply, and the further question of whether the price paid is profitable.
When it comes to grocery prices in Canada — and the price for proteins at the meat counter — it becomes even more complicated.
To dive in to grocery competitiveness, whether we’re likely to see a new player in the Canadian market, and where pork and beef demand may kick off the year, Kevin Grier of Kevin Grier Market Analysis and Consulting joined Lyndsey Smith on the Wednesday edition of RealAg Radio.
Canada’s grocery industry is quite competitive, Grier says, and he says it’s unlikely another chain would find it an easy market to enter, regardless of comments made by Industry Minister Francois Philippe Champagne about attracting a possible new entrant in the Canadian market.
As for protein demand, by no means is Grier saying that there won’t be strong demand for beef, pork, and chicken; however, the sky-high demand seen in the last three years is not likely in the cards. It will still be there, but not at record levels, and that’s going to continue to keep pork prices down.
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