Some grocery chains have decided to drastically increase the cost of their bananas, a trend which has not yet taken hold of the industry.
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Thus, chains like IGA or Métro now display bananas at 89 cents per pound, a jump of regarding 20 cents per pound that has not yet been followed by other chains like Walmart (68 cents per pound), Maxi (68 cents per pound) or Super C (69 cents per pound), according to a compilation produced by TVA Nouvelles.
According to Statistics Canada, bananas were selling, on average, at 77 cents per pound in the country in September.
“A banana is sold at a loss to attract people because the banana sells,” explained Sylvain Charlebois, agri-food industry specialist at Dalhousie University. We’re going to use the banana as bait to get people into stores so they can buy something else with higher margins.”
Mr. Charlebois believes that some retailers have chosen to abandon this practice, leading to higher prices.
Bananas are often kept inexpensive at the grocery store to attract consumers, but sometimes prices may increase to reduce losses
