IT'S A DEFLATIONARY EPOCH:

Loblaw Cos. is fighting a price war with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Metro Inc. and other rivals, offering discounts to lure more customers and keep revenue growing. That means there may be little prospect of a pick up in prices that have been dropping since the end of last year, with competition becoming a full-on deflation factor.

"While we expect deflation to moderate in the coming quarters, we see no signs of the competitive intensity easing," Loblaw Chief Executive Officer Galen Weston told analysts on an earnings call Wednesday. "As a result, we do not expect inflation to turn positive in 2017."

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