The government has installed the threat of a regulatory backstop if supermarkets don’t open up access to their wholesale arms but once again, people just want to know when food might cost less, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in The Bulletin.

Regulatory backstop not a silver bullet 

Yesterday the government confirmed they will force the supermarkets to open up wholesale access to rivals. At this stage they’re hoping the main players will do that of their own accord but they have a year, and then a new grocery commissioner will have the power to impose further regulation to “force fairer prices”. Stuff’s Melanie Carroll has an explainer on the changes and what they might mean for shoppers. BusinessDesk’s Pattrick Smellie (paywalled) writes about what he says is the only new news from yesterday’s announcement, the enablement of small-scale suppliers of food and other groceries to collectively negotiate with New Zealand’s two dominant supermarket suppliers. Smellie writes that “ironically, the collective bargaining carve-out arrangement could increase prices on the supermarket shelves.”

Cost of groceries “completely out of control”

Stuff has launched a tracker this morning charting the cost of a basic shop each month at Countdown, Pak’n Save and New World. Bodo Lang, head of marketing at Auckland University’s business school, said the cost of housing and groceries was “completely out of control”. He also says it’s impossible for shoppers to do a perfect job finding the best product at the best value for money. You could cut items, like cheese, he said but “we’re a civilised society” and cheese isn’t exactly caviar. As is now customary when discussing food prices, The Spinoff’s cheese index tells us that Mainland Tasty has been stubbornly stuck at $20 a block for exactly two months today.

Not just about supermarket competition

Farmers have recently warned that food prices will climb as their costs climb. Rising feed, fertiliser and fuel costs are to blame, exacerbated by supply chain issues and the war in Ukraine. Rabobank’s Emma Higgins says that although the longer term outlook was good, we have a bumpy ride ahead in the short term. Though we can’t eat it, a toilet paper shortage looms after Kawerau’s Essity mill locked workers out on August 9 as a pay dispute drags on. I was listening to RNZ’s Checkpoint last night to hear the alarming news that we don’t actually know how much toilet paper we have left in the country.

Time for a system rethink? 

In the UK, where they’re facing a food “austerity” crisis, there are calls to rethink the entire food system. Europe is also experiencing the worst drought in 500 years which will have flow on effects. The New Statesman has just published a piece calling for radical change in the UK. New Zealand produces enough food for 40 million people and there were calls last year to “feed the five million first” that seem to have taken a backseat to the present day reasons for the high cost of food like supply chain issues, a lack of competition and inflation. RNZ ran a series on food last year, including this great example of data journalism from Farah Hancock which illustrates where the food for 40 million actually goes. If food production in New Zealand was the equivalent of ten sheep meat meatballs, New Zealanders get half of one meatball.