Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand could make its fuel supplies last about three to four weeks if supply was completely cut off.

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) data shows that, on 1 March, there were 49 days’ worth of petrol, 54 of diesel and 50 of jet fuel in New Zealand.

But that total includes “stock on water” that has shipped but not yet arrived here. That is more than half the diesel stock, and 22 of 49 days’ supply of petrol.

War between the US, Israel and Iran has created significant disruptions to the price and supply of fuel and oil around the world, particularly due to the closure of the crucial supply route through the Strait of Hormuz.

Murat Ungor, economist at the University of Otago, said if fuel were completely cut off tomorrow, New Zealand could sustain itself for roughly a month, or just under, with the stocks on shore, assuming there was rationing and prioritisation for essential services.

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He said stock on water could still take some time to access and transport.

“New Zealand’s fuel supply position is structurally exposed in ways that deserve serious attention. Since the closure of the Marsden Point oil refinery on 31 March 2022, New Zealand has been entirely dependent on imported refined fuels,” he said.

“International transport was significantly disrupted in 2020 due to border closures implemented in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Fuel use for both international aviation and international shipping has been recovering in the years since. Any sustained conflict involving Iran introduces an immediate risk to global oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, through which approximately 20 percent of the world’s petroleum liquids transit daily.”

Kelly Eckhold, chief economist at Westpac, said there were two boats due to arrive at Marsden Point, near Whangarei, in 10 days. “What I’m not totally sure is if there are others that are also en route but it certainly looks like that’s the situation… there’s about 45 to 48 days’ of products available assuming the stock that’s on the water makes it here.”

He said at the time the new stock arrived, the country could be at around 17 or 18 days’ worth.

He said if supply was completely cut off, there would probably be a prioritisation process. “With ordinary car use there can be changes in the way that people use fuel. You can work from home… the thing with diesel is that it is used in the supply chain.

“The agricultural sector is a heavy user, the transport sector is a heavy user. They’re required to be able to do that otherwise you can’t even get goods to the supermarket. I would expect that if it really got that bad they would have some sort of prioritisation scheme in place to be able to keep things going.”

He said whether that was likely would depend on how the situation unfolded. “If things don’t resolve in a month or six weeks, it would strike me as a decent probability.”

ANZ chief economist Sharon Zollner told RNZ the disruption of oil around the world was becoming “pretty real”.

She said the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait had joined Iran in reducing output because they were not able to ship through the usual routes.

MBIE said the country’s fuel stocks were still “healthy” and fuel companies were not reporting issues with supply chains.

“New Zealand has a well defined, multi agency system for managing fuel supply disruptions,” a spokesperson said.

“In the event of disruption, the Fuel Sector Coordinating Entity-led by MBIE-works with NEMA, fuel companies and regional civil defence groups under the National Fuel Plan to maintain supply, prioritise essential services, and manage distribution.

“Should the situation escalate, the International Energy Agency (IEA) may intervene through collective actions like coordinating release of strategic oil reserves by their member states. This happened when Russia invaded Ukraine. The New Zealand Government has agreements with governments from the USA, United Kingdom and Japan to enable ticket contracts or stocks to be held in those countries count toward our emergency oil reserves.

“These measures, accompanied by the government’s long term Fuel Security Plan, provide a clear framework to respond effectively to both domestic and global fuel supply shocks.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A worst of worlds scenario for consumers is how one economist is describing the dual effects of the Middle East conflict on both inflation and economic growth.

The war and the resulting supply worries are pushing up global oil prices, with Brent Crude climbing above US$100 a barrel on Monday, to reach its highest level since 2022.

The ensuing price jumps at the petrol pump will not only affect people’s wallets directly, they are expected to flow right through the wider economy.

“Petrol prices are a key input to so many businesses, and so as their costs rise, that’s likely to push up costs on the other side as well,” BNZ head of research Stephen Toplis said.

“And that’s not even taking into consideration the increased cost of doing business, like insurance costs rising, and the fact that you may not be able to use freight routes that you previously used.”

The deflation flipside

Toplis said with the fuel price increases acting like a tax on people’s income, the less money they have to spend elsewhere, which tends to mute economic growth, creating a deflationary effect.

“The Reserve Bank’s got this awful challenge of trying to be very aware of the immediate inflationary challenges versus the deflationary challenges further on down the track,” he said.

“But given we’ve already got rising inflation expectations, given that prices will pick up, given that annual inflation might remain at 3 percent or more for a little while, then there’s certainly going to be, I think, in the immediate future, more pressure on the central bank to bring forward its rate hikes without getting too carried away about things.”

Based on current data, September is BNZ’s pick for a hike in the Official Cash Rate (OCR).

The conflict’s effects are frustrating for New Zealand, said Toplis, because it has been a long climb out of a dark economic hole for the country.

“The recovery was fragile and any shock of any description is highly unwelcome at the moment and certainly one of this size couldn’t have come at a worse possible time,” Topliss said.

Markets match the Mid East turmoil

After a muted greeting to the start of the conflict in which markets took a “wait and see” approach, the ongoing conflict saw Australasian markets crash on Monday.

The New Zealand share market had its worst session since April 2025, meanwhile Australian and Asian markets also plummeted.

The benchmark NZX50 dropped 3.1 percent or 421 points, with across the board falls in shares as investors worry about the potential economic fallout from higher oil prices.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand’s economy is on a “precipice”, one economist says, as the country faces increasing pressure as a result of war in Iran.

The price of oil has almost doubled from where it was at the start of the year, pushing up fuel prices and creating the potential for inflation across a wide range of goods and services.

Economist Shamubeel Eaqub said there would be a wider inflation effect for New Zealand, beyond the increase in petrol prices that has already begun.

“The way to think about it is where it originates… essentially, the Middle East provides up to 80 percent of the crude oil to the main refineries we buy oil from in South Korea and Singapore. Already in Singapore, the refining crack spread – the difference between refined product versus crude, has increase from $3.5 to $35. That means 10c more at the pump, roughly. That’s the first wave.”

“The second is around how we use oil in so many parts of the economy. It’s true that for transport we’re far less dependent, that was the case in the past. But there are particular industries and regions that are very influenced by it. The biggest is, of course, aviation. I feel sorry for Air New Zealand… if you look at the aviation fuel prices, they have skyrocketed because it has to be processed from a particular type of crude.

“It’s all the transport sectors. It’s us driving cars, the diesel for our trucks, which is really the backbone of logistics in New Zealand is diesel. It comes through there.”

He said construction would be the most affected industry initially. “Paint, plastics, paint, chemicals, you name it. Everything is related or affected by the price of oil. Then it’s people like the agricultural sector, hugely affected through fertiliser, diesel… particularly dairy and horticulture.”

He said it could also have an effect on consumer risk appetite, which would influence air travel and tourism.

“If the conflict lasts longer, prices go up, it might damage demand for our goods and services that we export, which then turns to jobs and slows down an already precarious recovery that I hope we continue to have.”

ANZ chief economist Sharon Zollner told RNZ the increase in oil prices had been “quite exponential.”

“It’s a pretty substantial shock that is negative for activity and growth.”

She said it would be inflationary beyond the price of petrol because fuel was an input into “pretty much everything”.

“All goods generally need to be moved around,” Zollner said.

Sharp increases in gas prices led to higher fertiliser prices, which could affect food costs.

“There’s a train of thought that thinks of economics as energy transformed, that’s how important energy is. If it spikes up, then down again quickly, there’s no harm done. If it stays high, it’s a problem.”

She said there was already evidence in surveys that businesses’ inflation expectations were increasing, which added pressure.

“We’ve seen the New Zealand dollar come off a couple of cents which makes not only oil more expensive but all imports.”

Finance Minister Nicola Willis said on Monday that there could be a range of potential consequences for supply chains, trade, inflation and future economic activity. She said the Commerce Commission had been asked to step up its fuel price monitoring.

What does it mean for interest rates?

How the Reserve Bank is likely to respond is not yet clear – it could be argued that it will need to increase interest rates to combat inflation, or decrease them to soften the blow to the economy.

“The kind of inflation we’re talking about is supply shock increases,” Eaqub said. “Which could become embedded if the economy is too strong. But the flip side is the economy might not be strong enough and we spiral. So we’re kind of in that precipice at the moment, just as the war is on a precipice.”

Zollner said the Reserve Bank would be weighing up the inflation effect against the fact it was bad for growth and employment if the war was sustained.

“People aren’t sure whether this makes the bank likely to raise rates sooner or later… It’s difficult for markets to deal with.”

Westpac chief economist Kelly Eckhold said petrol prices were on track to return to levels not seen since the invasion of Ukraine.

Beyond that, he said it seemed reasonable to expect inflation could pick up, but he did not think interest rates would follow quickly.

He said the Reserve Bank would probably view the increase as being for a finite period, and demand could be reduced in future because of it, as well as there being more pressure on household budgets.

“They’ll probably be thinking that if they look forward 18 months ahead, which is around about the period where a policy action now would have its impact, if anything, the issue might be a need to move interest rates the other way.

He said there was a risk that for the next three to six months the economic recovery would “take a pause”.

“Consumer confidence in particular, I think, is often related to changes in fuel prices because that’s a really frequently purchased item in the budget. So, you know, I can easily imagine that there might be a bit of a hiccup or a delay in the recovery that goes for a little while.”

He said it was not impossible that the government might act to cut the fuel tax again, as had happened last time petrol prices spiked. Eaqub agreed. Willis said on Monday that the Government was not considering it.

Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan said it felt a bit like the 2025 US tariffs again.

“Suddenly, a whole lot going down overseas and any hopes of a recovery sort of getting hit in the kneecaps again.”

He said the longer the conflict continued, the worse it would be for the New Zealand economy.

But he was less convinced that it wouldn’t mean higher interest rates.

“There’s a real risk there with the economy.”

He said 10 years ago, businesses facing cost pressures tried to cut costs elsewhere.

“Whereas now you go and talk to businesses and there is still a sense that if cost pressures are coming through, we had no choice but to pass them on five years ago when everybody was in the same boat and everything was rising in price.

“But we feel like there’s a pretty good chance we could do that again… it hasn’t taken long for transport organisations, companies to be going, okay, I’ve got a fuel adjustment factor in place and you’re going to be feeling that from next week… There is a real risk that inflation does [pick up] and possibly that the Reserve Bank might just be a little bit slow to realise what’s going on.

“Which means, ultimately, they need to be raising rates sooner and probably further as well, despite the fact that economic growth and the economy are not in a particularly great space.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

AI-empowered cybercriminals are attacking businesses at unprecedented speeds with more than 80 percent of phishing emails containing AI-generated content that is difficult to detect.

Kordia’s 10th annual New Zealand Business Cyber Security Report indicates 44 percent of large businesses were successfully attacked in the past 12 months, and 61 percent suffered a serious business disruption, including extortion in one-in-five cases.

Vulnerabilities exploited

“This year’s survey actually showed that we had a lot more voice-based and video-based attacks reported by participants,” Kordia-owned Aura Information Security general manager Patrick Sharp said, adding that biometric data had been used for a long time to authenticate users.

“One of the problems with using things like voice or your face as a form of authentication is that you can never change it.”

Harsher penalties and ecucation

Top of the wish list was for government-supported, educational programmes to raise cyber security awareness, with harsher penalties for businesses who failed to protect data and mandatory reporting requirements for businesses hit by major attacks.

“To date, New Zealand’s privacy laws have not been as punitive as other countries’ when it comes to privacy breaches,” it said.

For example, New Zealand penalties of up to NZ$10,000 were available for a small number of offences – compared to maximum penalties of more than A$50m in Australia.

“The EU, UK and Australia are all explicitly tying cyber resilience to director accountability, expanding mandatory incident reporting, and moving from voluntary guidance to enforceable standards,” it said.

“These are decisive moves to unify government and business standards to defend against the scourge of state and criminal threat actors assaulting their countries.”

Global trends

Among Kordia’s findings was a Microsoft Digital Defence Report 2025, which found AI-assisted phishing campaigns achieved click-through rates of around 54 percent, compared with 12 percent for traditional phishing emails.

Sharp said AI-assisted attacks preyed on people’s emotions.

“They’ll try to get you to do something because they have ingratiated themselves with you, or because they’re threatening, or because they’re trying to pressure you to do something. So if you feel pressure to do something, if you feel slightly uncomfortable about it, there’s not someone you know or anything like that. Just don’t trust it,” he said.

McKinsey reported phishing volumes increased 1200 percent from 2022 to 2025, targeting an organisation every 39 seconds with a daily economic loss totalling $18m.

New Zealand’s concerns

Kordia’s survey of business leaders found 24 percent were concerned about the misuse of AI in their business, with improper use among the top three cyber-security priorities.

Survey respondents were focused on improving or implementing employee training, maintaining best practice, higher security and software for detection with more frequent updates and improved response coordination.

Threat perceptions varied by business size.

Smaller organisations with 50-99 employees were most concerned about phishing and ransomware attacks leading to extortion, with organisations with 100-200 employees concerned over AI misuse and malicious insider threats.

Larger businesses with 201-500 employees were most concerned about distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which could disrupt operations, while those with more than 500 employees saw AI-generated cyber-attacks as a major threat.

Half of the business leaders said they would be willing to pay a ransom to a cyber criminal, and 8 percent of them had paid a ransom over the past year.

Insurance costs reflect risks

“Companies are certainly still using insurance, but it’s not the first thing they should be doing. The first thing companies should be doing is trying to reduce their risk down to the minimum level possible,” Sharp said.

While 17 percent of businesses made a claim on their cyber insurance over the past year, the cost of insurance was beyond the reach for many businesses, who were absorbing the costs, which included the loss of sensitive information, interrupted supply chains, fines and extortion.

A third of the businesses who suffered an attack estimated it took two months to resolve the issue, while a third doubted they could recover from a major attack.

Yet, 25 percent had not taken steps to secure the data, had no cyber security awareness programmes or had not practiced an incident response plan.

The World Economic Forum indicated the surge in successful attacks was compounded by a widening skills gap, with just 14 percent of organisations employing the right cyber talent, as the skills gap grew by 8 percent since 2024.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Do petrol prices rise faster when oil increases, than they fall when it drops?

A number of motorists have got in touch with RNZ over the weekend, complaining that it appears that when the price of oil rises, petrol companies respond quickly with higher fuel prices. But when the price of oil drops, the relief does not flow through as fast.

The oil price is now over US$100 per barrel and 95 has reached $3 a litre in some parts of the country. Gaspy said the average price of 91 was $2.64 on Monday afternoon.

Murat Ungor, an economist at Otago University, said it was a known phenomenon.

“Economists have a name for it: the ‘rockets and feathers’ effect. This label suggests asymmetries in the immediate adjustment to a cost change as well as in the number of periods needed for a complete adjustment.”

He said it reflected rational responses to market structure, search costs and competitive dynamics.

“Whilst the pattern disadvantages consumers during price decline periods, it emerges from well-understood economic mechanisms including inventory management, menu costs, asymmetric search behaviour, and oligopolistic market structure.

“Policy interventions focusing on enhancing price transparency and maintaining competitive market structures can mitigate, though not eliminate, asymmetric price transmission.”

He said it was a pattern seen in the UK and US, too.

“Competition authorities across the globe have long been interested in the question of whether retail gasoline and diesel prices rise more quickly than they fall, relative to the movements in underlying input costs.

“So why does this happen? There are a few reasons working together. First, when oil prices go up, petrol stations need to replace their fuel at higher costs, so they raise prices quickly to avoid losing money. All stations face the same pressure, so prices jump across the board within days. But when oil prices drop, there is less urgency. Stations can keep prices higher for longer because most customers do not actively shop around for cheaper fuel when prices are falling gradually.”

He said that it was not price fixing as much as it was fuel retailers responding to competitive pressure and consumer behaviour.

“When you are more likely to notice and complain about rising prices than slowly falling ones, stations can get away with slower cuts. Price comparison apps and websites can help by making it easier to find the cheapest fuel, which forces stations to compete more on price. But the rockets-and-feathers pattern is unlikely to disappear completely. It is baked into how the retail fuel market works.”

In 2024, a focus report from the Commerce Commission said that its analysis showed fuel companies were quicker to increase petrol prices than to lower them.

“There is no evidence that fuel companies ultimately fail to pass through the cost increases or decreases to consumers, rather the speed at which companies do this varies. This effect is present for Regular 91 and Premium 95. The commission estimates that if fuel companies drop prices as quickly as they increase them when costs change, consumers would save in the order of $15 million a year.”

But Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub was not convinced it was such a problem. He said it could be that people were more sensitive to price rises than they were to price falls.

“Using 20 years of weekly MBIE data, the rockets-and-feathers hypothesis is not confirmed with the well-specified models. The popular intuition may reflect cognitive bias, structural factors like taxes being a large fixed component of retail prices, or something else. I certainly don’t see the rockets and feather effect in the data.”

Z did not have anyone available to speak. BP said it was monitoring the situation closely.

“There are a number of factors that influence prices. We continue to review bp Connect prices every day to ensure competitiveness in the market. The bp website has more information on the facts about fuel pricing. There are also a number of independent bp operators all around the country who set their own prices and manage their own operations.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Airlines may have to cut the number of flights as they grapple with the soaring price of aviation fuel, according to the boss of a New Zealand airline.

The chief executive of Air Chathams says the rising cost of oil is costing the small airline some $140,000 extra a month in fuel.

The conflict in Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route carrying about 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas.

It’s pushed the global oil prices higher. The benchmark Brent Crude rose 18 percent or by US$18 to US$110 a barrel shortly after trading resumed on Monday at 11am NZT.

Air Chathams chief executive Duane Emeny told Checkpoint that prices were certainly on their way up.

Emeny said fuel was the company’s third most expensive cost, behind people and maintenance, and it’s causing significant cost increases for the airline.

“Every time the fuel costs go up by 10 cents, for a small airline like Air Chathams, that’s about $300k on to the bottom line for us. As you can imagine, with an increase of about $60 a barrel to what we are seeing at the moment, which is around the $115 mark, you are looking at annual costs of about 1.65 million increase, or $140k a month,” he said.

“So, it’s really, really significant, especially for a small airline.”

Emeny said the airline may have to cut the number of flights should the price of jet fuel remain so high.

“If you can’t afford to put aeroplanes in the air, then you’ve got to look at that and say ‘do I cut back my schedule, do I provide less connectivity because of this cost and then wait until it comes right and eases?’.”

“… All airlines will be looking at this, the big ones and the little ones,” Emeny said.

He’d like the government to look at ways to soften the blow on airlines.

“It’s an uncontrollable. We just have to grin and bear it,” Emeny said.

“I would just say, if there is any opportunity for the government to look at some of the mechanisms they do control – [Civil Aviation Authority] CAA levies, cost of airways, those sort of things – maybe there’s some short-term measures we can look at to support airlines.”

He said pausing those levies would be a welcome relief, saving the airline around $200,000 a month.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A freight company is warning New Zealand faces sharply higher freight prices, rising living costs, and months‑long delivery delays as the impact of the Iran conflict spreads through global supply chains.

Rocket Freight said local road transport carriers had already increased fuel charges by more than 30 percent.

Director Lisa Coleman said the escalating costs would hit consumers across the board.

“It’s everywhere, it’s affecting everyone, and it will come down to the last dollar for every single person in New Zealand,” she said.

“Every product that arrives on shelves will be affected.”

Coleman said air freight was also squeezed.

Dubai-based Emirates – the largest air freight operator in the country – had halted operations, and remaining carriers had immediately added war and fuel surcharges, she said.

With only two main air freight providers still serving New Zealand, and a number of airlines yet to return after the pandemic, Coleman said competition was limited and prices had jumped, particularly for outsized cargo.

While she said some increases were understandable, “a lot of it looks like a marketing ploy and a money grab”.

Seaborne freight also disrupted

Ocean freight faced similar pressures.

Coleman said international shipping lines had introduced a “war risk surcharge” of up to 50 percent on marine transit policies.

Many vessels were avoiding the Middle East entirely, re-routing around southern Africa – adding up to 40 days to transit times and significantly increasing fuel costs.

The closure of Dubai – a critical global hub – had thrown container schedules into disarray, leaving vessels out of position and disrupting logistics chains.

“All the trade routing we would normally use is changing. It’s all fluctuating – nobody knows when cargo is going to get here,” Coleman said.

Some shipping lines also invoked force majeure, the contractual mechanism that freed them from delivery obligations during events such as war, natural disasters, or government action.

In several cases, Coleman said cargo had been offloaded at the nearest safe port.

“Then you have to negotiate to get that container picked up from wherever it ended up, put on a different ship, and get it over here.”

Force majeure events were not covered by insurance, because they were treated as acts of war.

The only stable spot, for now, was freight to Australia and China – though Coleman expected prices on those routes to rise as fuel costs continued to climb.

Delays, fuel concerns, and the risk of rationing

Coleman said US-bound freight was already chaotic under the existing tariff environment, but she was increasingly worried about New Zealand’s ability to draw down fuel reserves at an affordable cost if the crisis intensified.

“The supply is obviously going to be our biggest worry. This country will absolutely stop if we have to start fuel‑rationing,” she said.

Coleman said rising transport costs would ripple through every part of the supply chain.

“It comes down to that loaf of bread – it’s going to increase dramatically just because of transport costs.”

Consumers and businesses should expect higher prices and significant delays, she said, warning major household goods not currently in stock could now take months to arrive.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The High Court has penalised two companies $420,000 over an acquisition that substantially lessened competition in the wood shavings market.

The Commerce Commission filed proceedings against Alderson Logistics and associated company Supa Shavings, over the acquisition of ABS Carriers in 2022.

Pre-acquisition, ABS and Supa Shavings were the largest suppliers of bulk wood shavings in Waikato.

“The companies were each other’s closest competitors and, when those assets were acquired, that competition was eliminated,” commission chair John Small said.

“The Commission was not notified about the acquisition, so this case is an important reminder that while our clearance regime is voluntary, we can take action against mergers or acquisitions where clearance was not sought.”

The case also marked the first time the commission asked a business to divest the acquired assets.

However, the commission said a deal to sell ABS fell through, meaning the divestment did not happen.

In her judgement, Justice Gardiner noted Alderson and Supa Shavings accepted they gained commercially from the deal for about 13 months, until a shavings supply shock in June 2023 affected their profitability.

Small said it was vital for firms to understand their obligations under the Commerce Act.

“While divestment was unsuccessful in this case, this shows the array of enforcement actions available to us,” he said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand and Asian share markets have tumbled as concerns mount about over the war in the Middle East and its impact on the world economy.

The benchmark NZX 50 fell 3 percent in mid-Monday afternoon trading, while across the Tasman, the ASX 200 fell 4 percent.

In Japan, the Nikkei plunged 6 percent.

It comes as global oil prices surge amid supply concerns, with travel through the vital Strait of Hormuz at a halt.

The benchmark Brent Crude rose to its highest level since 2022, as prices surged past US$100 a barrel, to settle at around $108.

Forsyth Barr investment adviser Mark Fowler said investors were nervous.

“I think the markets are starting to really speculate about how protracted this conflict is going to be in the Middle East,” he said. “And we’ve seen this enormous surge in oil prices.”

Fowler said there was potential for a global economic shock as prices flow through.

“Markets are starting to realise the reality of that sort of inflationary pressure,” he said.

“Everyone thought that this would be a short-term shock, but if it’s more medium-term, what are the wider ramifications for global markets? And you’re really starting to see concerns around that now.”

Kiwibank economists said “things are likely to get worse before they get better”.

“We’re bracing for much higher volatility, with a bigger market reaction in the near term,” they said.

“Our hope [is] that markets rebound quickly once the dust settles, as they did in 2022 following the Russia and Ukraine crisis period.”

Kiwibank said with disruptions to oil, gas and shipping, an immediate lift in inflation was “all but a done deal”.

“But the downside risks to global and domestic growth cannot be ignored either,” they said. “And ultimately, under this kind of supply shock induced inflation, it’s the damage to demand that is likely to dominate.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Commerce Commission says suppliers are scared to speak up about how they’re treated by supermarkets, so it’s running an anonymous survey to capture their experiences.

The commission’s first survey, held in 2024, revealed suppliers felt they had limited ability to negotiate with the big players.

Commerce Commission head of groceries Alice Hume told Nine to Noon power is tipped heavily in big retailers’ favour, with suppliers afraid to speak out.

“If you think about the dominance of the supermarkets, they’ve got 80 percent of the market.

“If you’re a supplier, and if you’re only dealing with one or two of them, that could be most of your business that’s on the line, so … it is a real valid concern for suppliers.”

There were rules in place to address the power imbalance, Hume said.

“But we still need to know from suppliers the things that they’re really concerned about.”

The 2024 survey revealed concerns about “delisting”: how supermarkets decide whether to pull products from their shelves, Hume said.

The Grocery Supply Code, which governs negotiations between suppliers and supermarkets, now forces supermarkets to be transparent about that, she said.

Suppliers also have a right to appeal through an independent dispute resolution service, Hume said.

The survey would help the Commerce Commission identify the biggest problems it needs to focus on.

Woolworths and Foodstuffs have been approached for comment.

Suppliers pressured, lack power – 2024 survey

The 2024 Grocery Supplier Survey found some suppliers felt pressured into “unfavourable terms”.

They felt there was a lack of transparency and communication about pricing, terms and decision making processes, and smaller suppliers felt “neglected or sidelined” in favour of larger players.

Suppliers rated Woolworths most positively, followed by Foodstuffs North Island.

“Foodstuffs North Island lags behind, with negative ratings outweighing positive across all measures,” the report said.

It said suppliers appreciated suppliers’ responsiveness, and clear communication.

This year’s survey closes on 17 March.

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