TORONTO, Oct. 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Loblaw released the latest edition of its Food Inflation Report, following Statistics Canada's release of September CPI data last week.

September brought welcome news for grocery shoppers. While overall headline inflation climbed to 3.1%, driven by higher gasoline prices, food inflation slowed to 1.7% year over year, down from 2.8% in August. While grocery inflation is easing, Canadians continue to face affordability challenges, with food prices remaining significantly higher than five years ago.

This month's report examines emerging pressures across the food supply chain, including rising freight costs, commodity volatility and new tariffs. It also highlights the growing size of supplier cost increase requests and Loblaw's efforts to challenge unjustified increases, with the Company having successfully pushed back on hundreds of millions in proposed cost increases so far this year.

The report also explores how seasonality, weather and transportation influence the cost of everyday products, using fresh strawberries as an example of the complex journey from farm to shelf.

For more information, contact pr@loblaw.ca.