Bananas: Peeling away at inflation

If you’ve continued to notice at least a bit of relief at the price tag next to where you grab a bunch of bananas at the grocery store, you’re onto something.

The average retail price across Canada for bananas was $1.65 per kilogram (kg) in February 2024. Since 2017, the highest nationwide average price during this period was $1.72 in January 2023, following months of broad-based price increases for food purchased from stores.

In each month over the same period, bananas have had the lowest per-kilogram average price among fruits we track. For comparison, a kilogram of apples cost $3.75 in January 2017, a kilogram of oranges cost $2.71 and a kilogram of pears cost $3.58.

Bananas are also a bargain when compared with fruits sold by the package or unit. A 454-gram pack of strawberries now costs $3.89, while a cantaloupe now costs $3.27.

Lots of supply

Canada generally has had a steady imported supply of bananas, which grow year-round in warmer tropical climates.

In 2023, Canada imported 587.1 million kg of bananas (other than plantains, fresh or dried), up from 2022 (571.6 million kg) but down from the record high of 591.9 million kg imported in 2020. In 1988, when we started tracking the current series, imports stood at 229.8 million kg.

Close to half of the bananas imported in 2023 came from Guatemala (46.5%), followed by Costa Rica (17.2%), Colombia (10.2%), Honduras (9.0%) and Ecuador (8.9%).

Bunches available

Our annual food availability program measures the amount of food physically present for consumption in a given year. In 2022, there were 14.68 kg of bananas available per Canadian—which works out to around 10 bunches each!

An all-time high of 15.83 kg of bananas were available per Canadian in 2017. In 1960, the year we started tracking, 9.57 kg were available.