Prices for most consumer goods and services have been going up, endlessly it seems, especially over the last few years. But when it comes time to throw yet another load of laundry in the washer and dryer (especially with back to school!), you may have been in for at least a bit of savings in recent months.
Prices for laundry detergents and soaps saw a modest year-over-year increase of 0.6% in July 2024. Before that increase, there were decreases in March (-1.5%), April (-0.6%), May (-0.2%) and June (-2.0%), compared with the same months in 2023. In 2024, prices for fabric softener were also down year-over-year in April (-3.1%), May (-2.7%), June (-3.2%) and July (-2.7%).
However, the stain of inflation had already set in: prices for laundry detergents and soaps rose 8.6% year-over-year in October 2019, the highest annual increase since the introduction of the series in 2014. A 5.5% year-over-year decrease in May 2021 was soon followed by 8.3% increases in May and September 2022, as the overall inflation rate hit a 40-year high in June (+8.1%) that year.
Inflation has also heated up the dryer. The highest year-over-year price increase on record for fabric softener was in August 2022 (+12.6%), during a two-year period of year-over-year increases in each month.
Imports of laundry soap up in recent months, but down over time
Canada imported 803 738 kilograms of laundry soap in July 2024, following imports of 629 885 kilograms in June and 776 997 kilograms in May—the three highest monthly amounts in recent years.
Since we started tracking in 1988, the 8.1 million kilograms of laundry soap imported in the month of January 2010 is the highest on record. On an annual basis, more laundry soap was imported in the single years of 2010 (27.2 million kilograms) and 2009 (18.0 million kilograms) than from 2011 to 2023 combined.
Manufacturing sales down for laundry soap, other cleaning products
Canadian soap and cleaning compound manufacturers sold and shipped nearly $143.1 million (on an unadjusted basis) of manufactured goods in June 2024, down from over $147.5 million in May. Sales have seen an overall decline since 2020, when they were usually over $200 million through most months that year.
The soap and cleaning compound manufacturing industry produces a range of consumer products in addition to detergents and fabric softeners, including other soaps, as well as toothpastes, bleaches, polishes, disinfectants and cleaning supplies.
Saving more on laundry
Our friends at Natural Resources Canada have a few tips for making laundry day more energy efficient, including sorting by thickness, using the extended spin cycle and using a drying rack instead of the dryer.
Any bit of efficiency helps! Household electricity prices increased 15.0% at the national level from July 2020 to July 2024.
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Contact information
For more information, contact the Statistical Information Service (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).