Natural Christmas trees could cost a little more this year, but shouldn’t rise as drastically as many other retail products.
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This particularly depends on where the tree is purchased.
Anyone who collects their Christmas tree directly from the producer pays less because they avoid middlemen.
“At the producer level, inflation has not increased our prices by 20%. After that, it’s certain that we don’t keep all the sales kiosks in Montreal, so each one sets its own prices,” explains Émilie Turcotte-Côté, vice president of the Quebec Christmas Tree Producers Association (APANQ) and agronomist.
The shortage of trees could also push up prices, but APANQ’s vice president doesn’t think Quebecers will run out of trees.
“In Estrie we have several Christmas tree producers, so you have several options to pick your own. Then there can hardly be a lack of trees in the fields of the U-Pick producers,” she says.
The situation might be different for those buying a tree in the Montreal area.
“Traders are dependent on growers because when demand is very strong, at the end of December, very often growers cannot cut down trees on that day,” says Ms. Turcotte-Côté.
Although she doesn’t expect demand to be particularly strong this year, the Vice President of APANQ suggests not waiting until December 20th to buy her Christmas tree.