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MONTREAL — Dollarama says the weaker Canadian dollar is forcing it to raise prices and could lead the discount retailer to increase its current price threshold from $3 to as much as $4 by late next year.

“The probability is in the third and fourth quarter of next year, we’ll have to move our price points up,” CEO Larry Rossy said Thursday during a conference call about its latest results, which beat analyst expectations.

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Rossy told analysts the company hopes to get more “clarity” about the need for higher prices during a trip to China in October.

“In general, we like to maintain our prices as long as we can, but this is really an exceptional time where the Canadian dollar has gone so poorly against the U.S. dollar and everything is bought in U.S. dollars. So to absorb 25 to 35 per cent (in currency swing) is almost impossible.”

Compounding Dollarama’s efforts to offer consumers value is the dwindling availability of goods it can purchase for 25 to 35 cents and sell for $1 or $1.25. Rossy said China is no longer focusing on those price levels anymore.