Food prices increase at fastest rate since 1989
New Zealand food prices were 12% higher in February than they were a year earlier, Stats NZ says.
It was the biggest annual increase since 1989.
Grocery food was the biggest contributor, up 12%.
“Increasing prices for barn or cage-raised eggs, potato chips, and cheddar cheese were the largest drivers within grocery food,” consumer prices manager James Mitchell said.
The second-largest contributor to the annual movement was fruit and vegetables. The increases were seen in tomatoes, up 117% and potatoes, up 48%. Fruit and vegetable prices as a whole were up 23% year-on-year.
Boom.
As TDB has been warning, Food Inflation is now 12%.
This has been the trigger for Chippy’s latest policy bonfire and $2billion Bread and Butter pacifier.
Now, wait until Food Inflation hits 15%.
and 20%
We aren’t factoring in the storms yet nor the emerging inflationary rebound that its now starting to get away on Reserve Bank Governors.
Chippy has to provide people with a hope that things can get better. Smashing the Supermarket Duopoly and seizing 30% of the industry to directly inject Government competition akin to what KiwiBank did.
Covid taught us food security matters and a Supermarket chain that embeds a cheaper food security while supporting local supplies is a necessity to correct a broken market!
We also need a kiwi subsidy on all local produce to recognise that producers have already used water and created local climate changing gases to create their product and as such consumers have already paid a price just to get the product to their table.
It’s time to remove GST off food, we are entering a phase of food prices that are going to need urgent attention because hungry people quickly become angry people.
Labour have to be bold on food security and smashing the Duopoly is the start.
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“Government should enter into a deal with Iwi to stock a new chain of Government/Iwi Supermarkets” – Sure that’s exactly what we need a further race-based splintering of society.
Iwi aren’t the ‘4 Square Man’ with some kind of innate understanding of food wholesaling.
When the powers that be control the food supply they control the people. Its all about control. Hence food shortages play into there hands of those in power to.
You want the government to tax the rich and at the same time take GST off food so lose that tax that does not make sense .Food would not drop by 15 percent and why make chocolate and cakes cheaper along with caviar and prime steaks . The tax working party in 2018 did not support removing this tax as it would add complexity to a simple system. What is food KFC McDonald’s etc .It is a policy floated by parties that have no idea about running a business or just jump on the sound bite policies that attracts support without looking at the wider picture.
Yes you take gst off prime steak and KFC and McDonalds and cake. Sounds like you want poor people to only eat bread, cant you let them eat cake! 15% inflation is the trigger level to cancel 15% gst on food. As for the “Oh it’s too complicated” argument from a tax working group that didn’t recommend decreasing tax on the poor it’s complete bs. Gst off food couldn’t be simpler. If it can safely go in your mouth it’s food. Yes the flour ingredient is food. Yes KFC and restaurants sell food. Why is gst off food not supported across the political spectrum, Labour helping workers, Nact providing tax cuts.
Tax cuts for the poor? Hard! Tax cuts for the rich? Easy!
We ideally should be solving the inflation crisis with deliberate deflationary policy. Unfortunately that word is a boogey-man for central bankers (which is why they need to be abolished – in fact, dare I say, they all should be tarred and feathered).
Interest rates should always be higher than inflation, since debt always has a time element, and time is never free. Right now we should have interest rates of at least 15%!. Yes, absolutely that will collapse housing markets, businesses, farms…. but also prices (because you will be happy to sell anything at a lower price).
This is the only honest solution to this current government’s absolutely disastrous economic policy.
We are fast heading to Zimbabwe monetary policy. This government is clearly completely out of its depth when it comes to sustainable economics. Worst government of my lifetime.
I guess having very little knowledge of economics you wouldn’t understand how favorably the rest of the world sees our economy. Your comment on the worst government in your lifetime is personal to you, however unintelligent that comment is.
Kiwi Build kiwi bank, now Kiwi super market. Phil Twyford could be CEO
Food will go up when government agencies can’t regulate the supermarkets and constantly pandering to supermarket profits and increasing them aka demanding everyone use certain supermarkets during covid (same with record bank profits)).
There should be a windfall tax on the companies that profited off Covid during those years. But government too gutless to do it, rather take out the little guy/gall.
Apparently 35% of people have had no pay rise in NZ with record costs of living and supposedly a huge employee shortage. The government helps big business but too close to big business and too weak to regulate them like other countries.
In addition the rabid enablement of development in unsuitable places by short thinking by government and councils, has seen productive food growing areas destroyed by apartment style living that are often luxury that few can afford who work in NZ, or flooded due to the amount of impermeable materials that has been allowed to take over NZ land for increased short term developer profit, creating more infrastructure, wastewater and flood bills for everyone else in the community.
How is NZ low wage economy really playing out?
NZ is not going into the first world economy but sliding into a third world economy full of people who live below the bread line or have zero income, who are encouraged to come to NZ to live by woke.
NZ is no longer considered a good destination for people of good character and high level of skill – woke want those who are criminally minded, high levels of social need, lack critical thinking and with labourer/trainee level of skill to come instead.
Don’t worry stats NZ doesn’t want to work out the skills set and profiles of those coming and going into NZ.
If we lose a registered nurse or teacher with huge experience leaving NZ while gaining a student family with 5 kids – all good under neoliberalism – more mouths that need food from supermarkets!!! More profits for supermarkets! More cars on roads, more power and water needed!
Not so good for our schools and hospitals and social systems though.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/migration-tourism-continue-to-surge-on-post-covid-recovery/TKFWA7CTWJENTOBHVDJOBABNEA/
“New Zealand’s annual net migration gain has continued to surge back to historically normal levels – hitting 33,200 for the year to the end of January.
The 130,800 migrant arrivals and 97,700 migrant departures for the January 2023 year were above the pre-Covid average for January years between 2002–2020.”
The provisional net migration gain of 33,200 in the year ended January 2023 was made up of a net loss of 16,400 New Zealand citizens, which was more than offset by a net gain of 49,500 non-New Zealand citizens, StatsNZ said.
Keep NZ wages low, social service costs rising and consumer profits high in NZ! Works for certain big business making record profits – less so for residents here, relying solely on wages!
So where do we fit the 33,000 net gain of immigrants? On Aucklands motorways, yep that will speed things up. In our over populated, over flowing mental health system, yep that will do or just our health system in general?
Maybe, just maybe we could just not allow any into the country and allow our underfunded infrastructure to finally catch up.
Yeah, let’s smash the supermarkets!
Just like Labour has smashed landlords…and created runaway rental inflation. LOL
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