Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

Business sentiment has plummeted in the first quarter of this year as the Middle East conflict weighed on confidence.

The Institute of Economic Research’s December quarter business survey shows a net one percent of respondents think economic conditions will improve in coming months, compared to 39 percent in the December survey.

That is the lowest level of confidence since September 2024.

Confidence diverged across industries. Construction had the most negative outlook while manufacturing had the highest confidence.

But firms reported demand remained steady, with the number expecting a future improvement easing only slightly to 13 percent.

Firms planned to invest more and hire staff but also expected higher costs.

NZIER principal economist Christina Leung said cost and pricing pressures suggested the risk of persistent inflation remaine low, as weak demand limited the ability of businesses to raise prices.

She expected the Reserve Bank to start hiking interest rates in July.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The owner of an Island Bay pharmacy says he had been lucky to find no extra damage after flood waters ripped through the property on Monday.

Wellington’s south coast was one of the worst affected areas during yesterday’s flooding.

Unichem owner Duncan Sutherland said he sandbagged the shop overnight, and was up early to check for any damage.

“[I’m] happy that it’s not made a mess of the place again, so hopefully that’s the last of it.”

The community had been great at looking after them, keeping them caffeinated and helping with sandbags, he said.

Mondays flooding had reached about 17cm up the internal walls of the shop, and had damaged stock on the lower shelf levels and all of the carpets, he said.

“Our wholesalers have been good. They came in and immediately replaced the stock for us.

“We had some guys come around and replace the carpet for us – they prioritised us as an essential service.”

Currently the pharmacy was operating slightly reduced services, and some medications were unavailable, he said.

“We’ve got a bit of work to do but we’ve got a great team and we’ve got a great community behind us.”

MetService has issued a red heavy rain wanring for Wellington and Wairarapa until Tuesday night, while a state of emergency has been declared for the Wellington region and the Carterton district.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Microsoft is boosting its commitment to improving New Zealanders’ skills in artificial intelligence.

The company says it is pledging to provide digital and AI training for 200,000 New Zealanders by 2028.

It follows an earlier commitment in 2024 to train 100,000 New Zealanders.

Microsoft Australia and New Zealand president Jane Livesey said studies showed generative AI could contribute between $76 billion and $108b to the local economy by 2038.

“New Zealand is building strong momentum in AI adoption. However now is not the time to take our foot off the accelerator,” she said.

The company said it would provide programme support in AI literacy to educators, teachers and school leaders, and help support community and non-profit leaders with the building of AI capability.

The announcement came as chief executive Satya Nadella was due to speak at a conference in Auckland on Tuesday.

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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 Indian community has welcomed the government’s decision to sign a long-awaited free trade agreement with India next week in New Delhi, describing it as a major milestone in bilateral trade ties.

Trade Minister Todd McClay has confirmed that legal verification of the agreement has been completed, with both governments set to formally sign the deal on 27 April.

Negotiations concluded in December last year.

The government says the agreement will eliminate or reduce tariffs on 95 percent of New Zealand exports to India, one of the highest levels secured in any Indian trade deal.

The signing will now trigger a parliamentary process, with the full text and a national interest analysis to be submitted and reviewed by a select committee, alongside public submissions.

Business and community leaders say the deal has been a long time coming, potentially unlocking significant economic opportunities.

That said, some are urging caution around implementation and migration safeguards.

Veer Khar, president of the New Zealand Indian Central Association, said he remained confident the deal would ultimately gain cross-party backing.

“It’s an election year, so we understand political parties will make the most of the opportunity to take shots at each other and that’s fair and part of the process,” he said.

“But ultimately, we’re confident the deal will be signed because it offers so much benefit.”

Sudesh Jhunjhnuwala, chief executive of Sudima Hotels and Hind Management, described the agreement as a “once in a lifetime deal”.

Having been part of the prime minister’s delegation last year, he said India’s renewed interest in an FTA with New Zealand came as a surprise.

He added that establishing direct flight connections would be a natural next step.

“Whenever there’s a direct flight, tourism from India takes off, and at the same time it will send more tourists to India as well,” he said.

Jhunjhnuwala said stronger economic conditions driven by the FTA would also support domestic tourism.

“The exciting part about the FTA is that it brings economic benefits to New Zealand, he said.

“And when the economy is doing well, people spend more locally. Over 50 percent of our business comes from domestic tourism.”

Dame Ranjna Patel said the level of public debate around the agreement was disproportionate.

“When New Zealand signed the China free trade deal there wasn’t this much kerfuffle,” she said.

“We’re a very small cog in the system, and I don’t know what fearmongering is about the FTA. It’s such a good thing to happen.”

She said the political noise could be related to the upcoming election.

“We probably won’t get a second chance if we turn it down right now,” she said.

Sunil Kaushal, chief executive of the India New Zealand Business Council, called the signing “a momentous occasion” that had been decades in the making.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “As the good old Mainland Cheese ad would say, ‘good things take time’.”

Kaushal said he believed Parliament would ultimately support the agreement.

“I think Labour will make the best decision for the country rather than the party because this deal will add more jobs and more money into the economy,” he said.

Arunima Dhingra, chief executive of immigration and education agency Aims Global, welcomed the signing but said attention must now turn to outcomes.

“For years we’ve talked about the potential, and now we’re keen to see what it actually delivers,” Dhingra said.

She said the agreement could strengthen collaboration in education, skilled talent and investment.

“There are parts of India that are world-leading at the moment,” she said.

“Better partnership and alignment could allow New Zealand to test ideas on a much larger global stage.”

Dhingra emphasised the need to focus on skilled migration.

Kush Bhargava, chief executive of the Aotearoa Bharat Economic Foundation, said the deal would boost New Zealand businesses by improving direct links with India and reducing tariffs, calling it a potential “game changer”.

Manu Lambai, manager of Indian jewellery giant Malabar Gold and Diamonds’ Auckland showroom, said the deal would also expand access to specialised products in New Zealand.

“Those who make these kinds of specialised, handcrafted jewellery are in India, and with the FTA we can bring them directly to New Zealand,” Lambai said.

The company entered the New Zealand market following the country’s comprehensive economic partnership agreement with the United Arab Emirates.

Mahesh Muralidhar, chief executive of Phase One Ventures and National Party candidate for Tāmaki, said the agreement would open up new opportunities.

“India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and will maintain that growth for many years,” he said.

“There is a highly engaged middle class that is growing rapidly and will demand more services, products and food.”

He said New Zealand was well placed to meet that demand through innovation and expertise, and that the deal would also hold significance for the Indian diaspora.

Labour MP for Maungakiekie Priyanca Radhakrishnan said any agreement must serve New Zealand’s long-term interests, raising concerns that still needed addressing.

“Labour has raised a number of concerns about the free trade agreement that still need to be clarified by the government,” she said.

“This includes wanting stronger safeguards against the exploitation of Indian migrants who come here for study, like we saw not long ago.”

She said Labour would review the full details before deciding whether to support the legislation.

“Signing a free trade agreement if you don’t have the majority support in Parliament – and, at this point, they don’t – is irresponsible and could damage our international reputation,” she said.

Mahesh Bindra, former New Zealand First MP and chair of the New Zealand Bharat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the agreement would be “tremendously beneficial” but acknowledged debate was inevitable.

He said he understood concerns raised by Foreign Minister Winston Peters around immigration settings.

“His view that immigration should not be treated as an opportunity to bring in people we don’t need has some merit,” Bindra said.

“New Zealand needs migrants, but we need skilled migrants that the country requires, not mass migration or people using New Zealand as a stepping stone to other countries.”

ACT MP Parmjeet Parmar said a free trade deal with India is an exciting prospect for both New Zealand and the Indian community.

“Such opportunities go beyond individual benefit,” she said.

“Increased trade enables businesses to grow, lowers costs and opens new markets for Kiwi exporters, supporting jobs, lifting incomes and creating opportunities across the country.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

As margins tighten, some small and medium-sized businesses are turning to family members to help keep their operations running.

However, legal risks can arise when a family “helper” is later found to have effectively been an employee.

Employment lawyers say that when a family relationship unravels due to issues such as divorce, disputes, business failure or succession, a business can face substantial liability if an employment status claim is brought, including back pay and holiday pay owed to the family member.

So where is the line between a relative simply “helping out” and being treated as an employee, and what can business owners do to avoid disputes?

Is it legal to ask a family member to “help out” in a business without pay?

The answer is not straightforward and largely depends on the arrangement.

Jeanie Borsboom, manager of specialist inspection for the Labour Inspectorate at Employment New Zealand, said it was not unlawful to ask a family member to work for free.

But whether that arrangement was lawful depended largely on whether both sides clearly understood and accepted it as being voluntary, she said.

“To avoid disputes, people need to be really clear with each other what the arrangement is,” she said.

“It could be purely voluntary, with no expectation of reward, so the person who is working does not expect to be paid. If they agree to that, then that’s not an unlawful arrangement,” she said.

“But if they agree that the person will be paid [and] rewarded for it, then they need to comply with all of the employment laws,” she said.

“They’ll need to pay them the minimum wage, holiday pay and have an employment agreement.”

Borsboom advised people to watch for dynamics such as power imbalances, children helping out or any indication that family members were being made to work without pay.

She said those were situations that should raise concern and, in some cases, be reported.

“People should also be aware of that imbalance of power,” she said.

“It may seem like a voluntary relationship, but if the person who’s doing the work does not feel they are volunteering and has not been able to speak up about it, that can be a bit of a danger area.”

What is the line between a family member “helping out” and being treated as an employee?

Multiple employment lawyers RNZ spoke with agreed that there was no clear-cut line between “helping out” and being an employee.

Jessie Lapthorne, a partner at Duncan Cotterill, said the law assessed the real nature of the relationship.

If a family member was being treated as an employee in practice, they were likely to be treated as one in law, Lapthorne said.

“The Employment Court has recognised that family arrangements can differ from the norm,” she said.

“There is a presumption that family members do not intend to create legal relationships and instead rely on family ties and mutual trust.

“However, that presumption is not decisive and can be overridden where the reality of the arrangement points towards employment, particularly if there is an imbalance of power or a risk of exploitation.”

Lapthorne said each case would be assessed on its own facts, including the level of control exercised, whether there was payment or some other form of reward, how regular and essential the work was, and what the parties reasonably expected.

“If a restaurant owner’s daughter works at the counter every weekend, with an expectation that she will be there, is paid or receives some form of reward, and is subject to workplace control, for example by needing permission not to work on a particular weekend, that arrangement if tested could well be treated as one of employment, even if the business thought of it as their daughter simply ‘helping out’,” she said.

Rosie Judd, a senior associate at Wynn Williams, agreed.

Judd said a family relationship did not preclude an employment relationship under New Zealand law.

She said courts assessed the real nature of the relationship, using the same tests applied in any other employment status claim, including the control test, the integration test and the fundamental test.

The control test examined who directed the work, while the integration test looked at whether the individual was part of the business in the same way as other staff, she said.

The fundamental test examined whether the individual was working for the business or whether they were operating independently on their own account, she said.

The parties’ intentions were also relevant, she said, though they were not necessarily determinative.

If a family member only helps occasionally or irregularly, can they still be covered by employment law?

This depended on the situation, said Jennifer Mills, director of Jennifer Mills & Associates.

Mills said whether a family member who occasionally helped was covered by employment law depended on a range of factors, including whether they could decline a request for assistance, whether they were subject to direction over their duties and hours, and whether they received any form of benefit in return for the work performed, including non-monetary benefits.

“A family member may be covered by employment law even if they help occasionally or irregularly as a casual employee,” she said.

What should a family member think about before agreeing to “help out” in a family business?

Judd said a family member could legally agree to work without pay if they were genuinely doing so with no expectation of reward. In that case, they would be regarded in law as a volunteer rather than an employee.

However, family members should be alert to how that arrangement may change over time, Judd said.

What started as occasional unpaid help could become more frequent or turn into something more onerous, she said.

“A family member should think about whether they will be expected to turn up regularly, what sort of work they will be doing, how relationships might be affected if they no longer want to help out and whether they will feel that they can say ‘no’,” she said.

“If there is any uncertainty there, they might consider a written agreement so that expectations are clear.”

What are the main risks for family business owners?

Lapthorne said the main risk for employers was that a family “helper” might later be found to have been an employee, with all the legal obligations that followed, even where the arrangement was intended to be informal or voluntary.

She said such cases usually emerged after a relationship broke down, or where there was unacceptable conduct by either the family member or the business owner.

If a family member was deemed to be an employee, the employer must comply with employment law requirements, including minimum wage obligations, leave entitlements, and fair disciplinary and dismissal processes, she said.

“Failure to do so can expose the business to claims for unjustified dismissal, unpaid wages or other employment breaches,” she said.

What can business owners do to avoid later disputes?

Mills noted that an increasing number of businesses appeared to be relying on unpaid or underpaid family labour because of rising costs and economic pressures.

She said migrant families and family-run migrant businesses were particularly vulnerable to this kind of problem.

“Migrant families or family-run migrant businesses may be less familiar with New Zealand employment law,” she said.

“Cultural expectations and potential moral obligations of helping the family business can materially increase the risk that informal family labour unintentionally crosses the threshold into employment.”

Mills said business owners should clearly set out the arrangement with the family member in writing before any work was undertaken, whether as a genuine volunteer arrangement, a properly documented employment relationship or, in limited cases, an independent contractor engagement.

“A clear paper trail is strongly recommended to avoid later disputes as to expectation, hours, remuneration and role boundaries,” she said.

Judd agreed, saying business owners should discuss with family members the real nature of the arrangement from the outset.

“Does the business owner expect the family member to work regular hours, seek permission before taking time off and follow the business owner’s directions? If so, they are probably an employee,” Judd said.

“If they have more freedom and flexibility, and do not expect to be paid, they might be a volunteer.”

Judd said that business owners employing family members should ensure there was a written employment agreement, proper payroll and record-keeping were in place, and expectations were clearly understood.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Southland-based Niagara Sawmilling Company has begun a $115 million expansion of its timber processing operations, marking the largest growth phase in the company’s 91‑year history.

The investment includes construction of a new state‑of‑the‑art sawmill at Niagara’s Kennington site, on the outskirts of Invercargill.

The sawmill is being built in Canada and is expected to be installed and operational by late 2027.

Alongside the South Island expansion, Niagara is also expanding in the North Island through the acquisition of Ōtorohanga Timber Company (OTC), a 94-year-old timber processor based in the Waikato.

Niagara managing director Ross Richardson said the expansion was the next step in the company’s long‑term strategy and would significantly lift processing capacity.

“These investments support Niagara’s long-term strategy of growing and strengthening our remanufacturing business,” Richardson said.

In the timber industry, remanufacturing means turning basic sawn timber into ready‑to‑use building products, such as smooth, finished boards or engineered wood.

Once complete, the new sawmill will allow Niagara to more than double its current output, increasing log intake to over 500,000 tonnes a year.

The increased capacity is aimed at allowing more timber to be processed locally, rather than being exported offshore in raw form.

Richardson said that would enable Niagara to “remanufacture more premium timber products in Southland and add value to logs locally, rather than seeing them exported and processed overseas”.

Over the past decade, Niagara has invested heavily in its Kennington operations, building what it describes as world‑class remanufacturing facilities.

Group sales manager Jamie Barton said the combination of Niagara and the newly acquired Ōtorohanga Timber Company would strengthen Niagara’s market position in New Zealand and Australia.

“With OTC’s product mix complementing that of Niagara’s, we are now able to offer an even wider range of quality timber products to both our domestic and export customers,” Barton said.

The expansion is also expected to deliver broader economic benefits to the Southland region.

Niagara currently employs nearly 400 people, and Richardson said the increased production capacity would support continued growth, giving more job security to its employees.

“Niagara has longstanding roots in Southland and has an ongoing commitment to the region and its workforce,” he said.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Just three months after they were pulled from the pie warmers, Pakuranga Bakery’s horse meat pies are available again and proving just as popular as ever.

The pies, inspired by lo’i hossi, a Tongan horse meat dish, went viral on social media over summer. But the bakery had to stop selling them in January as the lo’i hossi mixture they were using contained horse meat that hadn’t been cleared for human consumption.

There is only one meat processor registered to slaughter and process horse meat for human consumption in New Zealand. Auckland Council and MPI both confirmed to First Up, Pakuranga Bakery was now sourcing their horse meat from that registered supplier.

The lo’i hossi pies went back on sale on Friday, and by the time First Up, arrived that afternoon there were only two left.

Bakery manager Pho Bok said they had sold over 100 lo’i hossi pies that day.

He said a lot of customers had been asking when the horse meat pie would be coming back.

“They’re just happy, over the moon” he said.

He said other popular flavours like mince and cheese or steak and cheese sell between 40 and 50 per day.

While the bakery had previously bought the lo’i hossi mixture premade, Bok said they are now doing all the preparation themselves on site.

He said the horse meat needs to be cooked for several hours until it is tender “then you can try to shred it with your hands. And then you put it into the coconut cream, onions, and mix it all up together”.

The lo’i hossi mixture is then put into pastry, and baked like any other pie.

While the idea of eating horse meat was a novelty for some people, it was common in many countries.

Bok said the cross cultural appeal was part of what makes the lo’i hossi pies so popular.

“Pies, kiwis, it’s a staple” he said, “and then when you’re putting two cultures together, you can’t beat it.”

Videos of Pakuranga Bakery’s lo’i hossi pie were already appearing on social media again, so it seemed they were on to a winning recipe, now that their meat supply was sorted.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Inland Revenue (IR) has sent its first batch of letters to people who would normally have their tax assessed automatically, and who Inland Revenue are aware have traded crypto assets.

The tax department said it had identified 355,000 crypto-asset users in New Zealand who had undertaken 57 million transactions worth a combined $36 billion.

Crypto-assets are treated as a form of property for tax purposes and what people make from selling, trading or exchanging crypto-assets is taxable. Any profit made is treated as income, added to other annual earnings, and taxed within a person’s regular income tax bracket.

Inland Revenue said if people were making money from crypto assets they should be thinking about their tax obligations on this income and the risks of not declaring all related taxable activities.

Access to increased data has allowed IR to identify people with significant crypto assets and New Zealand is now implementing the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), which took effect on April 1.

Through CARF and annual exchanges of information with other tax authorities, IR will also receive information on transactions and transfers of crypto-assets that take place overseas by New Zealand tax residents.

Inland Revenue will be matching the information to tax returns and following up on any discrepancies.

It said its letter was the opportunity for people who received income from disposing of crypto-assets to review their tax position and correct any errors by filing an Individual income tax return – IR3.

Deloitte partner Ian Fay said the department was clearly emphasising that people could not assume that their crypto activity was invisible.

“For a lot of people, if you’ve got investments in crypto, even if it’s a relatively modest amounts, if you’re starting to double your money or more in terms of taxable income, and you haven’t got other funds aside to pay that tax, it’s still going to be difficult if you’ve not understood the rules properly and not returned the right amount of income to discover you’ve got a tax bill, plus interest, penalties for not accounting for it properly at the time.

“And more so if you’ve got all of your spare money tied up in crypto, and the crypto market has gone down, it gets hard if you’ve made some income a year or so ago that you didn’t properly return to Inland Revenue, your remaining crypto has now gone down in value, you may not have enough left to sell to pay the tax bill that you’ve got from a couple of years ago.”

He said people would not need to have cashed up their investments to get a tax bill.

“Some crypto investments will generate income, which is taxable.

“But more commonly, as soon as you go from one crypto asset to another crypto asset, in a lot of cases, that act will be treated as a taxable disposal of the first asset. And you’re acquiring a second asset.

“For example, often Bitcoin is the gateway crypto asset into other crypto investments. So you might buy some Bitcoin. And then a little while later, you might sell or exchange that Bitcoin for another crypto investment.

“You still think your investment is within the sort of crypto ecosystem, but that act of exchanging the Bitcoin for something else is a taxable event. If your Bitcoin went up in value, then you pay tax on the gain.”

He said many people still did not understand the rules or had not worked out their liabilities correctly.

“People won’t necessarily have huge amounts invested. But you could still do a lot of transacting and create a lot of tax compliance if you weren’t keeping on top of it.”

University of Auckland senior finance lecturer Gertjan Verdickt said a Norwegian study showed 88 percent of crypto holders had not declared their holdings in their tax return.

“Strikingly, even among investors trading on regulated domestic exchanges that already share data with the tax authority, 80 percent still didn’t declare.

“But the bigger picture: most non-compliers owed fairly modest amounts individually – bounds of around US$200 to US$1,000 per person, so the story is more about breadth than big tax evasion, and Norway is a good proxy for NZ given both treat crypto as property and have similar adoption rates. Also, it suggests that going after this money from an IR perspective can be costly.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The government’s attempts to shake up the supermarket sector have so far failed and something has to be done, Consumer advocates say.

New Zealand First said at the weekend that it was going into the election with a policy of ending the supermarket duopoly.

New Zealand’s grocery industry is dominated by Australian-owned Woolworths, and New Zealand co-operative Foodstuffs, which operates New World, Pak’n Save and Four Square.

NZ First said it would introduce legislation to break up Foodstuffs into two co-operatives, one for New World and Four Square and the other for Pak’n Save.

It also wanted tougher penalties and powers for the Commerce Commission and to address the supermarkets’ control over which products were stocked on shelves.

A potential break-up of the supermarket duopoly was raised as a prospect after the Commerce Commission’s 2022 market study into the supermarket sector, which found they were earning $1 million a day in excess profits.

After the 2023 election, ministries examined structural reform options, but the bulk of the policy effort focused instead on smaller regulatory fixes and market-led solutions, including work to understand what hurdles were in the way of another competitor entering the New Zealand market.

Officials warned that structural separation was more likely to be effective but was riskier.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis has said stronger intervention is possible if reforms are unsuccessful.

As of last year, a cost-benefit analysis was underway, she said. But similar work commissioned under the previous government found the economics of a break-up were far from straightforward.

A 2023 MBIE analysis suggested forced divestment could deliver competition benefits but also carried the risk of a $3.8 billion net cost over 20 years, largely due to the loss of economies of scale.

Consumer NZ spokesperson Gemma Rasmussen said since the Commerce Commission report, there had been a lot of tinkering around the edges of what was required.

“We have more regulation in the market, and more formal protections, but it’s fair to say that consumers aren’t really seeing any major changes at the supermarket. We’ve got the Grocery Industry Competition Act and the Grocery Commissioner has been created.

“There’s been work put in place to try and help suppliers, like the Grocery Supply Code of Conduct, and obviously there’s been the land covenant ban, which is to try and make things easier for a new entrant to come in, as well as some wholesale supply reforms. But what we’ve found, and what we’ve seen, is it seems like National has placed all of their chips on an international third party coming in, and that’s something that doesn’t seem to be a gamble that’s paid off. We’re a country with a really small population.”

She said the geographic isolation of New Zealand increased supply chain costs and made it harder for international players to expand here.

She said there were things in NZ First’s proposal that Consumer would support but there was no one solution that would fix the sector’s problems.

“When you potentially work to break up Pak’n Save and New World, you could potentially see an increase in operational costs which could drive up the price of food.

“There could be unintended consequences of the price of food going up ion the short term, or potentially the long term.”

She said there was also a risk that Woolworths could leave the country if it was no longer viable.

“Then we’d be back to square one with two small players.”

Rasmussen said a third player would also not necessarily guarantee lower prices.

In Australia, even with Aldi, the government had to introduce intervention to try to improve competition.

From July, the Australian government will introduce a law that bans large supermarkets from charging excessive prices.

This carries a penalty of up to A$10 million or 10 percent of turnover, or three times the gain from unjustified prices.

“This is something that would potentially be less risky. It would send a warning shot across the industry that when there have been these examples of extremely high mark-ups that they can’t be doing that.”

She said Consumer wanted to see more heat on supermarkets and more drastic measures taken. A move similar to Australia’s on excessive pricing could help, she said.

“If that wasn’t to work, then potentially to break them up. However, we do support what [NZ First] is proposing in terms of stronger powers for the Commerce Commission and the Grocery Commissioner, and we think it’s really great that they’re looking at that farm-to-shelf pathway.

“With what’s happening, it is a concern for us if that local grower market continues to diminish, New Zealand could be in a place where we’re actually really vulnerable to what’s happening in overseas markets.

“Right now, there’s a fuel crisis. If we are primarily importing our food and fuel prices go up, that’s something else that’s just going to continue to drive prices up. So really looking to ensure that our local growers are thriving is a great call and more resourcing there is welcomed by us.”

She said the public was frustrated that millions had been spent on a market study that found excessive prices but little had happened.

Tim Hazledine, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Auckland, said he would support the supermarkets being broken up.

But he said Foodstuffs should be split into New World on one side and Pak’n Save and Four Square on the other so they were competing against each other in every market from the outset.

He agreed that what the Commerce Commission had done so far had not made a difference.

“There may be people who don’t do certain bad things because they’re afraid the Commerce Commission would act, and I hope that’s true, but they haven’t said, right, we really want the minister to give us powers to step in here and break up the duopoly.”

He said the commission had seemed not to want to be given significant powers at all.

‘They said, ‘please don’t, we’re not very brave here, so please don’t send us into battle. We don’t want any weapons. Thank you very much’.”

A spokesperson for Foodstuffs said there was no evidence to suggest breaking up its business would lead to lower grocery prices.

“The Foodstuffs North Island and Foodstuffs South Island co-operatives are made up of more than 500 locally owned and operated supermarkets, each store individually owned by a New Zealand family that is deeply embedded in the communities they serve. Profits are retained locally.

“It is a distinctly New Zealand business model, with members working together, buying together, and collectively owning their supply chain, support functions, and technology systems. This creates the scale needed to deliver the best possible value to their local communities no matter how remote they might be.”

The spokesperson said the model allows it to keep costs down and compete effectively against larger overseas-owned competitors – as well as New Zealand-owned operators.

“We are also a major partner to thousands of suppliers across New Zealand. We place strong emphasis on supporting supplier growth and innovation, and small New Zealand suppliers are among the fastest growing parts of our supplier base.”

The spokesperson said breaking up the co-operatives would reduce efficiencies, require duplication across supply chains and infrastructure and increase costs.

“New Zealand grocery prices are broadly in line with comparable international markets, particularly when factors such as GST on food and the cost of operating in small, geographically remote markets are taken into account.

“We support efforts to improve competition and regulation that deliver better outcomes for customers. In our view, the most effective way to achieve that is by improving efficiency and lowering the cost of doing business, including enabling greater scale across the Foodstuffs co-operatives-owned business model.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Petrol and diesel stocks have decreased slightly, while jet fuel stocks have risen, according to the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment’s latest fuel stocks update.

As at 11:59pm on Wednesday, there were 54.0 days’cover of petrol, 44.8 of diesel, and 51.4 of jet fuel either in-country or on its way.

This is compared to 56.3 days of petrol, 45.4 days of diesel, and 47 days of jet fuel in the previous update.

The update showed there were 29.6 days of petrol in-country, 19.5 days of diesel, and 28.5 days of jet fuel.

There were seven ships within New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and six on the water outside the EEZ.

Ships within the EEZ had 16.7 days of petrol, 10.8 days of diesel, and 1.6 days of jet fuel, while the ships up to three weeks away have 7.7 days of petrol, 14.6 days of diesel, and 21.3 days of jet fuel.

MBIE said national fuel stocks remain stable, with sufficient stock levels across petrol, diesel, and jet fuel.

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