In the past 18 months the oil price has fallen from $110 a barrel to near $27, prompting some onlookers to riff on all the things oil is now cheaper than.
Including, improbably, a barrel itself.
Canadians have their own special conundrum. In some parts of Canada, a barrel of oil is cheaper than a few cauliflowers.
The price of cauliflower in Canada has risen fron CAD $2.50 to around CAD $8, tripling in price, because of the connection between oil prices, currency and other commodities, according to the New York Times.
“We’ve gone through this cycle before with the dollar,” Jim McKeen, owner of a grocery store in downtown Ottawa, told the Times.
“But there were issues on prices anyways because of supply in addition to this whole fiasco with the Canadian dollar. It’s a perfect storm.”
Canada's currency has fallen in value with the price of oil, because its economy is so heavily linked to oil. That makes imports like cauliflower, which is shipped up from the west coast of the US, more expensive.
California is also going through a season of dought, which has cut into the production of cauliflower and pushed prices up even higher.
A cheaper Canadian dollar means that some Canadian food producers are sending their wares to the US, where it is worth more. Canadian consumers are faced with buying Canadian produce from US exporters, rather than on their home soil.
