Source: Radio New Zealand
Process Vegetables New Zealand chair David Hadfield said there has been a significant drop in the demand for frozen vegetables. Unsplash/ Yoav Aziz
At a time when both Wattie’s and McCain have announced factory closures, supermarket retailer Woolworths says sales of frozen vegetables have been declining.
Process Vegetables New Zealand chairman David Hadfield said there has been a significant drop in the demand for frozen vegetables, noting that diets and demographics are changing in Aotearoa.
“With Uber Eats etc, there’s not a lot of vegetables in the package that you get to eat. You know there will be a piece of meat, potentially some rice, or you might have potato and a sprinkling of vegetables on top – not the amount that you would have if you cooked the meal at home.”
Hadfield added that they were pushing through programmes in schools to teach year seven and eight children how to cook vegetables, but despite this “consumption seems to be dropping”.
He said with the current cost-of-living pressures they expect demand for cheaper frozen vegetables will increase, but added supermarket profit margins were not helping the situation.
According to Woolworths, 62 cents of every dollar spent in stores went to suppliers, describing their business as “low-margin, high-volume”.
“We keep about 2.3 cents and the remainder goes to paying wages and other operational costs, and investing in our store network,” a spokesperson said.
According to Stats NZ, the cost of fruit and vegetables combined [https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/selected-price-indexes-february-2026/
increased by 9.4 percent between February 2026 and the same time last year].
Meanwhile,Ministry of Health figures for the 2024-2025 year showed just 6.8 percent of adults on average were eating the recommended portions of vegetables.
President of United Fresh New Zealand Incorporated and 5+ A Day, Jerry Prendergast, said he had not seen a drop in demand for fresh vegetables, but he echoed Hadfield’s comments about having to compete with more processed fast food options.
Prendergast said he felt for families under pressure and there was a place for the likes of Uber Eats, but said fresh produce from supermarkets or other retailers remained a cheaper and healthier alternative to takeaways.
“There’s some exceptionally good value out there. Right now you’re into the change of seasons with your autumn crops, so we’re seeing more of the celery, silver beets, spinach being available [and] cabbages and cauliflower and even broccoli at this time of year.
“So, utilising what’s in season is the ideal for consumers to reduce their cost of living.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand