Montreal’s produce industry chugs on, with lower prices
There’s no sugar-coating it: The produce industry in the greater Montreal metropolitan area of Canada’s Quebec province has had a tough time of it this past year.
“The season had its particular challenges with a significant drop in prices for certain products, a significant increase in production costs and weather issues for the month of August,” said Patrice Léger Bourgoin, executive director at Quebec Produce Grower Association.
The association is typically based at the market’s new location, Place des Producteurs, or the Grower’s Place, at Villeray St. Michel Parc Extension.
Quebec’s main market houses growers as vendors, rather than wholesalers as vendors, which is how most market terminals in the U.S. work, such as Los Angeles, Detroit, New York City’s Hunts Point, Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore.
While produce distribution is conducted in person regardless of a pandemic, more office-focused job roles are continuing to be remote to some extent, 19 months after the COVID-19 landed and took hold of the continent.
“The work remains in hybrid mode. All in all, the transition to the new installations in the Place des Producteurs went well, in the pandemic context,” he said.
Besides the many independent, small grocers in Montreal and beyond, the region’s major supermarket chains are Metro, Loblaw, Sobeys, Walmart and Costco.
Product prices
Lettuce, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, peppers and fresh dry onions bring in some of the highest farm gate values of Quebec’s vegetables, according to Statistics Canada, which is akin to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Quebec lettuce farm gate value dropped from $82.3 million to $77.8 million between 2019 and 2020. Carrot values dropped from $139.8 million in 2019 to $131.8 million in 2020. The asparagus farm gate value of $45.1 million in 2019 dropped to $41.6 million in 2020.
Broccoli didn’t far so badly, with just a slight dip from $79.4 million to $79.1 million. Fresh dry onions increased in value in this time period, from $112.5 million to $113.5 million.
Quebec strawberries are finished for the season, and apple season is underway. Quebec’s new harvest of most squash varieties is plentiful, and the price is expected to drop, according to a Sept. 13 market report by JG Fruits and Vegetables, or JG Fruits et Légumes.
Statistics Canada’s report on the Quebec farm gate value for total fresh vegetables was
$500.3 million in 2020, followed by $490.1 million in 2019 and $456.6 million in 2018.
Production cost increases
Quebec has seen higher prices for labor, trucking and supplies such as pallets, just like the produce industry in other parts of North America.
“In general, as in several sectors of activity, the logistics chain is under pressure,” Bourgoin said. “The Quebec vegetable growing sector is no exception to the rule. Production costs have increased significantly this year.”
Weather issues
While there was no significant fire or smoke as there was in southwestern Canada, August was pretty hot for Eastern Canada.
The lettuce didn’t like it.
“The extreme temperatures of early August have greatly affected growth and quality,” according to the JG Fruits and Vegetables report. “The consequences are beginning to be felt. The market is tightening. Prices are starting to rise.”