Amazon Prime membership price not going up in Canada

The price of Amazon Prime in Canada isn't going up, despite a pending bump to the cost of the annual membership fee in the United States.

Amazon revealed Thursday that the Prime fee for U.S. consumers will rise to $119 US a year, up from the current $99 US.

The higher fee will go into effect for new members starting May 11. For renewals of existing memberships, the increase will begin on June 16.

However, Prime membership in Canada will remain at $79, an Amazon spokesperson told CBC News.

Amazon said the fee hike to coverhigher costs to maintain the program, such as shipping fees.

Back in January, Amazon bumped up the monthly rate for a U.S. Prime membership to $12.99 US a
month from $10.99 US.

Prime members get access to two-day shipping, along with access to Amazon's video and music streaming features.

Amazon says it has 100 million Prime members around the world, but the company said it doesn't break out its Prime members by country.

News of the rate increase came on the same day the company postedfirst-quarter sales and profit that both topped the expectations of the market. The company also forecast a higher second-quarter profit.