New Zealanders are paying the most of any country for food, with new reports showing significant increases in the last five years.
The report by Statistics New Zealand, New Zealand Profile: 2012 showed most food items have increased in price in the last five years.
At 6.8 per cent, New Zealand’s unemployment rate is now higher than ours in Australia’s 5.3 per cent, but average wages for those in work has gone up by about $5 per hour, which is contributing to the higher prices of food.
While our milk price has taken a nosedive, much to the dairy industry’s detriment, New Zealanders are paying 24.1 per cent more than they were five years ago.
Other staples are increasing substantially also, with bread up 40.9 per cent, fruit by 30 per cent and vegetables by 27.7 per cent in the same period.
Earlier this month New Zealand’s Green Party called for an investigation into why Australian-owned Woolworths New Zealand’s underlying profit margins have increased considerably faster than the cost of food for the past three years and the local.
The political party says an investigation into supermarkets is overdue and tighter regulation is necessary.