Government set to require Countdown and Foodstuffs to supply rival retailers
The Government is expected to announce on Wednesday that it will press ahead with a law change that will force supermarket groups Countdown and Foodstuffs to supply wholesale groceries to rival retailers.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the announcement would be “a big and important step ensuring New Zealanders and their families get a fair deal at the tills and this country’s grocery sector is effective and operates fairly”.
The “regulatory backstop” would be the latest in a series of government interventions designed to improve competition in the industry and get a better deal for supermarket suppliers.
It would be likely to kick in if the Government assessed that Countdown and Foodstuffs weren’t making sufficient efforts to wholesale groceries to rivals off their own bat.
That whiff of desperation you smell here is a Government realising that the cost of Living Crisis is killing them politically.
The spineless gutless Labour Government wouldn’t step up and actually take a 30% stake and run our own supermarket player to force actual competition and food security AS ADVISED BY THE COMMERCE COMMISSION, preferring to do the age old meaninglessness masquerading as tweaks and first good step crap.
To be fair to David Clark, the measures being forced here are structures that at any other time would enable downward price pressures.
Ending the obvious abuses of power like land covenants is good, as is the ability for local supermarkets to rebrand so a 3rd player can enter the market, and most importantly allowing competitors like smaller dairies and minimarts, butchers and grocers the ability to buy at the same wholesale price is another structural feature that will push prices down.
HOWEVER
These aren’t normal times!
Government after Government have allowed the Supermarket Duopoly to grow out of control so these basic regulatory features which should have been implemented decades ago, simply won’t be enough to stem the pain of food inflation!
It suggests that the Government are slowly realising that the Treasury’s predictions of the inflationary spike to be temporary are optimistic in the extreme and that come December when Putin is strangling Europe with Gas cuts, inflationary pressures will erupt.
Labour better be looking to be on the road to achieving some price relief at the supermarkets by December or they will be gone at the Ballot Box the following year.
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I know I’m a bore on this but bribe aldi like we do hollywood…or any other europian grocer, improve food quality, real discount pricing and better employment standards everyone but the duopoly wins
….a man can dream..
meanwhile, back in the real world, business information and registration is about to be paywalled, which I read to be privatised, https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-proposed-laws/document/BILL_124080/companies-levies-amendment-bill
And this is relevant to G’s comment how? I shopped at Aldi in Perth before getting trapped on these insignificant islands, and I must say that G’s got it right about Aldi.. They didn’t have everything I wanted, but their policy of importing generic products from non mainstream countries made for serious bargains, and did succeed in curbing the worst excesses of the Coles/Woolworths duopoly.. At this point, Australian food prices, while having climbed as a result of incompetence and neglect by the previous tory/pentecostal government regarding oversight, and protection of consumers, is still less than two thirds what Count down is gouging people her for..
If it wasn’t for Pack’ n’ save I couldn’t afford to eat more than four days a week.. So making assumptions based on your personal prejudices, and an overblown sense of your own intellect does nothing to add to this thread.. Try harder to sty relevant next time.. Btw, countdown is not only way more expensive than P&S, they have far less choice of products.. A total rort by any measure..
ha ha assumptions
sorry stefan really don’t understand your last para or how it refers to my post, assuming it does that is.
I had a quick read Jane. It could be privatized as it mentions collecting levies paid to government or nominee. The registers are used an awful lot by many and I think they should be publicly available and free to search. It makes financial sense to monetize their use by those listed in the schedule (not unlike the PPSR register) aka broadly banks, financial service businesses etc. In that sense a nominal levy would be sufficient to cover costs. I don’t like the idea of our registers not being freely available to the public though. At best they could then fund a register of trusts though
Thank you. It is helpful to know under whose direction a company operates. I see this proposal as a bit of a clampdown on transparency plus a tad undemocratic.
Do what the ozzies do and remove GST from food.
Perhaps Christmas Food shopping won’t be a total rip off this year? Fingers crossed…
Perhaps Christmas Food shopping won’t be a total rip off this year? Fingers crossed…
the victory of hope over experience nate
Prime Minister Ardern is correct. This law change is indeed a big important step in the government’s bid to ensure fairness across the supermarket sector. For far too long now, this supermarket duopoly has been allowed free reign over the control of retail grocery prices. This has always posed a direct conflict of interest as they have a vested interest in making as much profit as possible. I’m glad that the government is now implementing this law change as it will enable fairer prices for goods at retail counters.
Good luck to you Dan.
Yes Dan, brilliant to see this government attempting to create an equitable environment for ALL shoppers. Nact could learn a thing or too, given their free market thinking allowed supermarket prices to get out of control.
Any sign of the Commerce Commission getting a rark-up and a reminder about the benefits of competition?
the CC exists to protect monopolies full stop, that’s their intended function, PR for the peasants.
Commerce Commission will be called upon if Kiwibank receives financial support from Government.
What a stupid comment.
Sensible and true.
If Kiwibank cannot make it on it’s merits and then requires Government subsidisation then the Commerce Commission will be forced to act.
Idiot Bob, the Government own the bank, if they need to put investment into their business then so be it, just like any other business putting capital into it’s business.
For a self proclaimed genius you are seriously thick.