Chop shock: Hawke’s Bay supermarket defends lamb price

A Sunday supermarket shock, with four lamb leg chops priced at $30.04. By Tuesday the prices were reduced by 50 per cent.

Family shoppers balking at the cost of their favourite cuts of New Zealand lamb heading into Christmas may just have to be patient with prices that have soared to around $25 per kilogram.

The price of leg chops at Pak‘nSave, Napier, on Sunday, was $24.99kg, or $7-to-$8 for a single reasonable chop, or more than $30 for four.

There was some relief, with stock still in the chiller display 48 hours later a bit more palatable with reduced price stickers showing the cost of the cuts had been reduced by 50 per cent, albeit with a best-before date of November 16.

The fresh lamb prices were comparable with other supermarkets, a spokesperson for Foodstuffs saying lamb pricing is driven by export markets, which take 90 per cent of the New Zealand product.

“The UK loves our lamb for Christmas and China for Chinese New Year in January,” they said. “However, with more lambs becoming available in New Zealand then we expect the price to be stable.

“We currently have lamb shoulder chops on roll back at $14.99 in Pak’nSave, which is great value for customers and super versatile,” they said on Tuesday morning.

Different cuts will vary in price depending on demand, with loin chops, as one example, attracting a higher price, as have a lower yield due to trimming and attract higher prices overseas, meaning less New Zealand supply.

One stock sales watcher said the higher prices reflected higher prices at the yard several weeks, which had been $30-$35 than the $184-a-head highest prime lamb sale at a Stortford Lodge sale on Monday.