Winners and losers of shrinking loonie

SUMMERLAND — The loonie sunk below $0.70 U.S. Tuesday morning, for the first time since April 2003. The low dollar is having an impact on businesses and consumers throughout the valley. As for if it’s a good or bad thing — that depends on who you ask.

READ MORE: LOONIE DIPS BELOW 70 CENTS U.S. FOR FIRST TIME SINCE SPRING 2003

Arrow Industries of Summerland builds canopies and other products, and for it, the plunging dollar is a double-edged sword: the business has to pay more for imported raw material from the States, but the low loonie means it is more competitive when exporting the final product.

Owner Grant Taylor says he’s been working to boost sales south of the border.

“We’ve hired a salesman to go into the States and improve our business,” says Taylor.

The weak dollar is also having some positive impact on local ski hills.

A spokesperson for Silver Star Mountain Resort in Vernon says there are more Americans arriving to shred fresh powder.

“The big win for us has been the U.S. visitors. We were up over 30 per cent over last year and that, of course, is due to the favourable exchange rate,” says spokesperson Eric Kalacis.

Kalacis says most of the skiers and snowboarders are coming from Washington and Oregon.

However, the low loonie is also making other American arrivals more pricey.

Shoppers may notice soaring prices at grocery stores, especially the cost of fruits and vegetables from the States.

“Those cauliflowers are from California. They’re $6.99 a pound; I’ve never seen it that high before,” says Cameron Ware, a produce manager at Summerland’s IGA.

Ware says it is difficult to find local products because green houses usually shut down in January.

“We’ll see more products from Mexico, which isn’t as popular as the U.S. products or obviously, local product,” he says.

The dollar has recovered slightly later on the day. The dollar has closed at $.7014 U.S.