Mid-year dairy price increase leaves sour taste

TORONTO - Restaurant owners are bracing for higher prices for cheese, yogurt, ice cream and butter with today's news that industrial milk prices will rise by another 2.76% on Sept. 1. This is the second price increase in seven months and comes on top of a 2.2% increase that took effect Feb. 1, 2016.

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"Continually jacking up prices for restaurant owners and consumers is not a long-term solution when Canadians are already paying among the highest prices in the world for dairy products," says Pierre Cadieux, Restaurants Canada's Vice President Federal/Quebec. "Cheese is being priced off the menu and another price increase is only going to further drive down demand."

Representing an industry that buys $2.7 billion worth of dairy products a year, Restaurants Canada is pushing for long-term solutions to the problems created by Canada's outdated supply management system.

"We understand concerns around producer margins, but we need solutions that will increase volumes rather than always increasing prices," says Cadieux. "Today's announcement is yet another indicator that the current system is not working for producers or end users."

The increase was announced July 15, 2016 by the Canadian Dairy Commission.

Source Restaurants Canada