The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that stubbornly high food prices should not be continuing to rise at their current pace, Loblaw executives say -- making the argument that food manufacturers are to blame, and not store owners. The Globe's Susan Krashinsky Robertson writes that suppliers have raised the prices they charge to Loblaw by more than $1-billion so far this year, said chief financial officer Richard Dufresne on Wednesday. He said: "This is double what we would expect normally. We have received double-digit increases from the same suppliers who gave us double-digit increases last year. That's why you see products that are noticeably more expensive than they were just a couple of years ago." Mr. Dufresne added that many of these cost increases are not justifiable, considering that prices for commodities that go into those products and their packaging are coming down. Prices for transportation, wheat, flour, paper and plastic have all receded from last year's highs, he said, and Loblaw is pushing suppliers for cost decreases on that basis. "With lowered costs, we will lower prices," Mr. Dufresne said. Grocers have faced criticism for not doing enough to combat food inflation.