Media release - Supermarket study long overdue

Study due before Christmas still not here

The Grocery Action Group is asking when will Grocery Minister Nicola Willis release the results of the investigation she commissioned early last year on breaking up the supermarket duopoly.

“Early last year Minister Willis said she had asked the Ministry of Business, Industry and the Environment (MBIE) to study what would be needed to require the supermarkets to divest themselves of perhaps half of their businesses, and what the benefits, costs and risks would be of doing so,” said Sue Chetwin, chair of the Grocery Action Group.

“ She said this study would be reported back before  Christmas last year, over a month ago.

“In the meantime all the steam with which Minister Willis introduced this plan seems to have evaporated.

“Yet food and grocery prices are still rising faster than overall inflation at about four per cent annually.

“We know consumers would love to know what the government has in mind to increase competition in the food and grocery area to rein in rising prices.

“Late last year we welcomed Minister Willis’  acknowledging the prospect of structural reform remained firmly on the table but we  are still waiting to hear more.

“We believe government and policymakers should recognise only bold, decisive structural reform —targeting both retail and wholesale — will deliver genuine relief to Kiwi consumers at the checkout.

“The Grocery Action Group says the duopoly held by Foodstuffs and Woolworths controls more than 80% of the market and continues to stifle competition, restrict choice, and keep grocery prices unnecessarily high. Allowing fast track consenting and other Incremental measures are not doing the job.

“Breaking up the entrenched duopoly is the single most effective course of action if New Zealanders are to see lower prices at the checkout, and see them quickly.”