Families feel the pinch

[MotherBear]

Families feel pinch as basic costs rise
By PAUL EASTON - The Dominion Post | Tuesday, 18 September 2007

Households are being squeezed by price increases on basic foods and petrol, even before higher power prices and a sliding Kiwi dollar begin to take effect.

Budgeting agencies fear the increase in staple food prices, including butter's 23 per cent increase yesterday and milk's increase by 12 per cent in two months, will bite into the average grocery bill.

The price increases come on the back of news that the Government's planned carbon emissions trading scheme will push power and petrol prices up further.

It is expected that the price of power will increase at least 4 per cent.

World oil prices hit a record high of $US80 ($NZ112) a barrel last week and motorists were told to expect higher prices at the pump.

Homeowners are also facing increased mortgage payments, despite the Reserve Bank opting against lifting the official cash rate last week.

The jump in the price of butter came as Fonterra, which exports most of its milk, reacted to rising international prices.

Overall, food prices increased by 3.4 per cent in the year to August, with meat, poultry and fish up 8.4 per cent, according to Statistics New Zealand.

The price of tomatoes increased by 18.3 per cent and bananas 24.7 per cent.

The Federation of Family Budgeting Services chief executive, Raewyn Fox, said staple foods were becoming more expensive, which was going to hurt.

"Our concern is that these are the basics for people, a cheap source of nutrition."

Food and Grocery Council commercial director Lindsay Davidson said New Zealand was starting to see the effects of international food price rises.

The price of cocoa, sugar, corn, wheat, barley, soy and coffee had all risen sharply in recent months.

Increasing flood damage and the use of crops for biofuels were behind the trends, Mr Davidson said.

The price of wheat has almost doubled on the world market since April.

Prime Minister Helen Clark has said the Government's emissions trading scheme will include compensation for low-income households to help them cope with the price rises.

But Ms Fox said middle-income families were also struggling, hit by rising mortgage rates and high childcare charges, and it was unclear if they would qualify for compensation.

Bank of New Zealand chief economist Tony Alexander said the high New Zealand dollar had shielded the economy from rising global food prices.

But with the dollar taking a dive, he said it was likely inflation would hit 3 per cent this year.

With the economy cooling and inflation picking up, the Reserve Bank was now likely to leave interest rates untouched "for some time".

From here .

[Welshgirl]

This is crazy - NZ is renowned for having a high percentage of obese people, so how do they expect people to do anything about it when things like milk, meat, poultry, fish, tomatoes & bananas, some of the most basic healthy foods, are going up in price - it's not exactly encouraging the population to eat more healthily Granted, it's still cheaper to buy fresh food and prepare it at home, than it is to buy takeaway or processed junk, but increasing the price of healthy stuff is unlikely to inspire more healthy eating.

[MotherBear]

It's the same old thing - healthy food always seems more expensive than junk food, yet they keep sniping at us because we don't (can't afford to) buy it.

Same with immigration. INZ and the government are continually bemoaning the fact that the country is short on skilled labour yet, at the same time, they seem to be participating in some sort of campaign to make it even more difficult and costlier to immigrate.

Get your act together people! You can't have it both ways.

[MotherBear]

Groceries sure to rise
Page 1 of 2 5:00AM Sunday September 23, 2007
By Alice Hudson

Staples of the Kiwi shopping basket such as bread, butter and cheese, as well as treats such as chocolate and icecream, are set for big price hikes, the food industry is warning.

Whether you blame biofuels, the Australian drought or China's newfound love of cakes and New Zealand dairy products, the trickle-down effect of worldwide hikes in prices for basic commodities is going to hit us in the pocket, almost certainly before Christmas.

Significant price rises will affect almost any product made of grain or milk.

Fonterra raised the price of wholesale butter 23 per cent last week, an increase supermarkets say could be passed on to consumers within weeks. And sky-high wheat prices worldwide are set to send the cost of bread soaring by about 20 per cent.

More here .

[MotherBear]

Bacon and eggs served on toast to cost more
5:00AM Wednesday September 26, 2007
By Neal Wallace

Consumers already reeling from sharp milk and butter price rises are in for another shock as the cost of bread, bacon and eggs follow suit.

Bread manufacturers are expected to increase the price of bread by up to 20 per cent before Christmas and will not rule out another price rise in the new year as they respond to soaring international wheat prices which have doubled in the last year.

"Consumers should expect a 10-30 per cent increase, something in that range, depending on the type of bread," a spokesman for Champion Flour said yesterday.

George Weston Foods chairman Laurie Powell said he agreed with that assessment.

This would mean a mid-priced loaf of bread selling for $2.60 at the supermarket would increase to $3.12.

More here .