Data on monthly average retail prices for selected products, by province, are now available for February.
Note to readers
Beginning May 4, 2022, national average prices will be available in the Monthly Average Retail Prices for Selected Products (table 18-10-0245-01). The table will include an expanded list of products and an enhanced methodology, resulting in some revisions. All series will contain data from January 2017 onward.
The data source for this table is scanner data (also known as transaction data) collected from Canadian retailers. Transaction data provide a comprehensive electronic record of the transactions made through a retailer's point-of-sale system and contain relevant pricing information, such as product descriptions and quantities sold. The use of transaction data for the calculation of the average prices in this table offers a significant quality advantage, given the number of product prices available in the transaction data and coverage in terms of geography and pricing weeks.
The products listed in table 18-10-0245-01 are items commonly purchased by Canadian consumers. As consumer preference changes, the contents of the table may from time to time be updated. The products listed in this table do not represent an exhaustive list of products used in the calculation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). A list of the representative products of goods and services in the CPI basket is available on the Statistics Canada website.
While average prices can be used to assess price levels in a given month, they should not be used to calculate price change over time. In order to measure pure price change, otherwise known as inflation, it is recommended to use the CPI and its sub-indexes (table 18-10-0004-01). Although average prices provide a complementary picture of consumer prices, they are not comparable to the pure price changes calculated in the CPI due to methodological differences, and do not contain all the same products and may contain different product definitions.
The method that Statistics Canada uses to measure and publish monthly food inflation in the CPI has not changed. Historical data on average prices will continue to be available on the Statistics Canada website.
Product definition
Average prices are derived in one of two ways: using a specific size/quantity measure or standardizing multiple sizes.
Specific size: In most cases, a specific size or quantity can be easily identified as the measure of best fit for a particular product. For some products, a specific size or quantity is the most commonly purchased by a considerable amount (for example, a dozen eggs). Other products have multiple high-sale sizes over a large range (for example, milk). In this case, we calculate separate average prices for each size (1 L, 2 L and 4 L) in order to provide a fuller picture. Other products, such as fresh produce and meats, are often sold by weight and provided as a price per kilogram. In these cases, 1 kg is applied as the specific size. For all of these products, only items of the specific size or quantity are included in the average price calculation. The specific size alone provides sufficient coverage to produce a robust measure.
Standardized size: For certain products which are available to consumers in a wide variety of package sizes, prices for products within a set range of package sizes are standardized before the average price calculation. For example, prices for blocks of cheese ranging in size from 400 g to 800 g are adjusted to represent a 500 g block of cheese and are presented as such in the average prices table.
For more information on the calculation of the average prices in the "Monthly average retail prices for selected products, by province" table, consult the "Methodological Supplement for the Provincial Monthly Average Retail Prices Table," published as part of the Prices Analytical Series (62F0014M).
Next release
The next update of the "Monthly average retail prices for selected products, by province" table will be in May.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).