At a Glance: Commodity Prices

The 2007 Alberta Spatial Price Survey was produced in order to meet the needs of individuals, businesses and other organizations looking for cost-of-living type information.

The report measures and compares price levels for a basket of goods and services in 34 communities in Alberta, during two weeks in the Fall of 2007.

For the 3rd Place-to-Place Price Comparison Survey completed in the last 6 years,
… has proven good news for our region.

Overall, the 2007 Survey proves that
Wainwright is a Good Great Place to Work, Live, Do Business & Visit!

Just another reason you should look at Wainwright when relocating.

All Commodity Indices: “For the 2007 survey, Wainwright recorded the lowest price index of 89.3. The three highest all-commodities were reported for Fort McMurray, Canmore and Jasper at 110.6, 106.7 and 104 respectively. Fort McMurray’s high all-commodity index may be attributed to its high sub-aggregate indices for shelter.”
Food Indices: The food indices range from 93.5 (Lethbridge) to 114.7 (Jasper). Jasper’s eight food subcategories ranged from 105.4 to 127.7 with the highest value representing frozen & packaged foods. Although Fort McMurray reported the highest all-commodity index, this location had three food subaggregate indices lower than Edmonton. Wainwright recorded a price index of 93.8.
Non-Food Indices: When Compared to Edmonton, four communities reported higher non-food indices ranging from 101.1 (Jasper) to 112.3 (Fort McMurray); the two other communities included Calgary and Canmore, 101.2 and 106.3 respectively. Wainwright exhibited the lowest non-food index of 88.3. In addition, Canmore and Fort McMurrary reported indices greater than Edmonton’s base of 100 for eight of the nine specific non-food categories.
Commodity Category Indices: The highest shelter index reported was 136.8 was reported for Fort McMurray followed by Canmore at 110.6. The lowest was 61.2 (High Level), while Wainwright reported in at 69.9

The community of Brooks possed the lowest utilies price index of 88.1 in comparision to other surveyed communities that ranged from 88.5 (Wainwright) and 89.9 (Medicine Hat) to 111.3 (Grand Prairie).

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Purpose and Method of the Spatial Price Survey

The purpose of the 2007 survey was to measure price differences between selected communities and Edmonton for a specific basket of goods and services at a specific point in time.

The price differentials are measured through the construction of spatial price indices. The goods and services used for this survey are similar to the survey items used by Statistics Canada to construct monthly Consumer Price Indices for Alberta cities. The common basket of goods/services is comprised of a total of 292 commodities. A detailed list of food and non-food categories is presented in the appendix of the report. Prices in all centres were collected wihtin a two-week peiod from September 17 to 28, 2007.

2007 Place-to-Place Price Comparison Survey(PDF 612 KB) Adobe Reader required

Editor’s note…In the lower portion mirrored copies of both the 2003 & 2005 Surveys are also available for viewing in PDF format. Additional information may be found on the Alberta Finance, Economics & Statistics web site, or by contacting AFES directly.

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Alberta Finance, Economics & Statistics

Statistics Division
Room 259, Terrance Building
9515 - 107 Street
Edmonton AB T5K 2C3
Telephone: 780-427-3099
Fax: 780-427-0409
To be connected toll free in Alberta, dial 310-0000
Website: www.alberta-canada.com

You can access related department publications on the web at
www.alberta-canada.com/statpub/costStudies/priceComparison.cfm.

• 2005 Place-to-Place Price Comparison Survey(PDF 360 KB) Adobe Reader required
• 2003 Place-to-Place Price Comparison Survey(PDF 1715 KB)Get Adobe Reader …

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