Chicken thighs jumped 8.2% in one month as shoppers trade down from beef

Prices for fresh or frozen chicken thighs jumped 8.2 per cent from May to June, according to Statistics Canada's latest consumer price index — far outpacing typical month-to-month movements for other proteins and groceries.

Year-over-year, the surge is steeper: chicken thighs cost 13.6 per cent more in June 2026 than they did last June. On Tuesday, a Loblaws in Toronto was selling a club pack of nine boneless, skinless chicken thighs for $22.18, or $20.92 per kilogram. A Walmart in North Vancouver priced the same cut at $18 per kilogram.

The spike comes even as Canada's overall inflation rate eased to 2.8 per cent in June — the lowest in months — with prices for cucumbers, tomatoes, and grapes all dropping from May to June. Beef remains more expensive than chicken, pushing shoppers toward poultry as a more affordable option.

Michael von Massow, a food agriculture professor at the University of Guelph, said demand drives chicken prices. "Proteins in general are getting more expensive, so people are trading down," he said. Because there are only two thighs per bird and supply can't quickly expand, any shift in demand ripples through prices immediately. "You can't snap your fingers and have more chicken."

Sylvain Charlebois, director of Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab, agreed that expensive beef is pushing consumers toward chicken thighs as a more affordable protein alternative. Nearly every part of the chicken except breasts is becoming more expensive, he added.