Originally Posted by Sunny Day
The supposed benefit for consumers of the rising CAD is that it could buy more imported goods at a lower cost as most imports are denominated in USD. I haven't seen any drop in prices of groceries imported from the USA nor have I seen that in electronic goods or vehicles manufactured in the USA. Have you seen any evidence of this supposed benefit for consumers? My guess is that the 25 cent rise over the last 2 years have been eaten by the middleman. They have pocketed the money and did not pass it onto you and I.
Most vegetable and fruit prices are quite stable and even lower than recent years. At least when I go shopping this is the case. Lettuce is back down to the 99-cent to $1.49 level. Tomatoes anywhere from $1.49 to $2.99 a pound depending upon source. Even cleaned and packaged salads are down in price. Orange juice (not from Concentrate) has also been selling in the $2.49 to $3.49 price range for 1.89 litre containers, quite stable. So prices at the wholesale level have dropped but this savings as a result of the stronger dollars (on imports from the US and Mexico) have been offset by higher energy costs incurred getting the produce up here. Had the dollar not strengthened, I am sure we'd have seen significant store price rises.
As for the prices of manufactured goods like computers and household electronics, even if they are assembled in the US or known as US brands, they are manufactured overseas and there has been less pressure on those currencies. There is also an inventory lag of several months to contend with, so adjustment of prices don't occur immediately.