The Swedish company Oatly is reacting with its vegan oat drink, an alternative to cow’s milk, sold at nearly $11 per 1.89 liter box.
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“It’s excessively expensive,” testifies a customer of the natural food store Nature Santé in Montreal.
Similar drinks usually retail for between $5 and $6 for the same amount.
For example, the Silk brand oat drink retails for $5.39 for a 1.75 liter carton while the Earth’s Own brand offers its 946 ml container for $3.49.
Other brands, like Elmhurst, are starting to follow suit with an oat drink on sale for $8.49 for 946ml.
Lufa Farms, on the other hand, sells a daily fresh artisanal oat milk in a 1 liter format for $5.25.
Certain beverages, when their composition is modified, are no longer subject to the same laws on the price of milk; this is also the case for all plant-based alternative drinks such as soy, almond or oat milk.
This could explain a higher price than that of cow’s milk, for example, which is standardized.
The company Oatly also made headlines this week internationally due to the fall in its shares of 80% since the beginning of the year.
Its chief executive, Toni Petersson, has also announced layoffs and other cost-cutting measures, according to Reuters.