March 01, 2024
Lack of choice pushes up prices at checkout
A Māori economist says the lack of supermarket competition is contributing to the difficulty whanau face buying kai.
World Vision has ranked New Zealand at the bottom of high income countries in a survey of global food prices, with a basket of 10 common foods -increasing in price by 56 percent over the past year, despite food prices trending down globally.
Massey University’s Matt Roskruge says last year’s weather events and regulations banning cage-farmed eggs contributed to the increase.
It shows how fragile New Zealand’s supermarket economy is.
“If we had more competitors in the food market, they would also look for different supply chains. So they’d be importing food from different places that have their own suppliers. So they’d be more resilience in the amount of food that’s coming in to Aotearoa. And so by having more suppliers, there’s more competition but also more food coming in at lowest prices,” Professor Roskruge says.