Average Canadian retail price of milk by region 2021

In 2021, the retail price of one liter of milk in Canada was on average 1.68 Canadian dollars, with some regional differences. For instance, in Quebec, one liter of milk cost 2.06 Canadian dollars on average, while it cost 1.56 Canadian dollars in Ontario.

Milk production in Canada

Canada featured among the leading producers of cow milk worldwide, with a production volume exceeding 10 million metric tons in 2021. Although this production volume pales in comparison to that of the EU-27 or the United States, Canada’s dairy farming industry is among the most important agricultural sectors in the country. Dairy farms in Canada were home to more than 990,000 milk cows in 2021. In addition to being the provinces with the largest number of milk cows in the country, Quebec and Ontario also produced the largest volume of milk in Canada in 2020, at around 33 million and 31 million hectoliters, respectively.

Milk consumption in Canada

Since 2004, consumption of milk per capita in Canada has been steadily declining, with a significant decrease of more than twenty liters per capita between 2004 and 2019. This can be attributed to the emergence of new consumption habits and the rise of non-dairy substitutes for milk such as soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk and others, which appeal primarily but not exclusively to people following plant-based diets. It was estimated that the milk substitute market in Canada would generate approximately 367 million U.S. dollars in revenues in 2022.