A while back we reported that the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) plans to increase the cost of 1,332 products sometime this year. Well on Tuesday, the SAQ confirmed that an average price increase of 1.66 per cent on most products would begin to go into effect starting Sunday, November 7.
619 products could see a 2.6 per cent price increase right away. Among the products, however, some 50 items will have their prices increase as late as Jan. 30, 2022, since they are currently on promotion.
According to the SAQ website, many suppliers face unprecedented challenges that are having an impact on their production costs. These include labour shortages and higher prices for bottling supplies (glass, stoppers, etc.) and shipping. At the same time, the challenging weather conditions seen in several wine-growing regions have placed additional pressure on prices.
“Wine-growing regions that are much appreciated by our customers have been severely and repeatedly affected by bad weather related to global warming, especially early in the year,” said Catherine Dagenais, President and Chief Executive Officer of the SAQ. “This has included successive hard frosts in France and periods of drought in Spain and Italy. These developments have greatly reduced product availability in some regions. But SAQ negotiators have succeeded in maintaining a balance. While being sympathetic to the unprecedented challenges faced by a number of our producers, we continue to give Quebecers access to the products they enjoy and to do so at the best possible price.”
France’s wine country is responsible for the biggest increases:
Wine-growing region Price increase (%)
White Burgundy 11.8%
Red Burgundy 7.5%
Beaujolais 5.1%
Loire Valley 3.6%
Southern France 2.1%
Italy, Spain, Portugal, and other countries less affected by challenging weather conditions are seeing an average increase of 1.5% for their products.
