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Nicola Willis: NZers Not Getting a 'Raw Deal' on Butter
NEW ZEALAND, JUL 23 – Fonterra's CEO and Finance Minister discuss how rising global demand, especially from China, has driven butter prices up 46.5% in the past year, affecting local consumers and retailers.
- On Tuesday evening, Finance Minister Nicola Willis held a meeting with Fonterra’s CEO, Miles Hurrell, to address the issue of rising butter prices in New Zealand.
- The meeting followed a year of soaring butter prices driven mainly by strong global dairy demand and supply constraints, which pushed prices up 46.5 percent to about $8.60 per 500g.
- Hurrell explained that roughly 80 percent of supermarket butter prices reflect international market rates, that retailers set local shelf prices, and that Fonterra must support its 8,500 farmer suppliers without discounting products domestically.
- Willis characterized the discussion positively, highlighting the importance of boosting competition among supermarkets as the key strategy to reduce prices, while also recognizing that Fonterra must balance shareholder interests with the negative impact higher prices have on New Zealand consumers.
- The discussion highlighted limited levers to control butter prices locally, suggesting New Zealanders will face high costs for now despite strong dairy prices benefiting the national economy and farmers' communities.
11 Articles
11 Articles
Butter saga a smear on grocery competition and social licence
Analysis: A runaway meeting has had the country obsessing over the price of butter – something that’s become synonymous with the current cost-of-living crunch The post Butter saga a smear on grocery competition and social licence appeared first on Newsroom.
Opaque price increases are puzzling. There is a problem of explanation for consumers.
Butter wars: ‘nothing cures high prices like high prices’ – but will market forces be enough?
Lincoln (New Zealand), Jul 25 (The Conversation) The alarming rise of butter prices has become a real source of frustration for New Zealand consumers, as well as a topic of political recrimination. The issue has become so serious that Miles Hurrell, chief executive of dairy co-operative Fonterra, was summoned to meetings with the government and opposition parties this week. After meeting Hurrell, Finance Minister Nicola Willis appeared to place …
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