Slaughtered by prices

Petra Barclay with her son Jake. Photo / Herald on Sunday

We are a nation built on the reputation of our sheep meat. But, when it comes to prices, we are like lambs to the slaughter.

A Herald On Sunday inquiry shows English shoppers pay less for New Zealand lamb than we do in our own supermarkets.

A 1.85kg leg of lamb cost the equivalent of $24.23 at Sainsburys in London, and $23.79 for a 1.7kg leg at the upmarket Waitrose supermarket chain.

But if you want to buy a 1.85kg leg of lamb in Auckland it will set you back $28.49 at New World and $27.19 at Countdown.

At the last count, there were 21.9 million lambs in New Zealand. On average every Kiwi eats 6.9kg of lamb a year. That equates to 1.7 million lambs. The rest are exported.

Even good old Kiwi lamb chops are more expensive here. At Sainsburys, 500g retail for $9.81 and $9.90 at Waitrose. At New World, the cost is $10.99, and Countdown $11.99.

Consumer deputy chief executive David Naulls said lamb prices were affected by the global price. "This may seem unfair," he said. "But, like with any other commodity, New Zealanders just have to pay global market prices."

Supermarkets here say the difference in lamb prices between New Zealand and England is out of their hands.

Foodstuffs Auckland general manager of retail Rob Chemaly said prices had increased as the supply reduced with winter.

Foodstuffs operates Pak'nSave and New World. "Our margins across the fresh meat category have not changed recently, and in some cases have declined given the competitive state of the local market," he said.

Chemaly said New Zealand consumers were paying export prices for lamb, which supermarket companies had to purchase at.

Prices for British consumers could be kept at a reasonable cost simply because of market size. "The UK will have more purchasing power to negotiate lower rates due to the scale of its economy," he said.

Progressive Enterprises spokesman Brett Ashley, said lamb numbers were down 7 per cent compared to last season.

Exporters were also able to negotiate better buying prices by purchasing entire flocks from farmers. The cost of transporting lamb to the UK is met by the New Zealand exporter.

Meat Industry Association CEO Tim Ritchie said a typical export load would be around 16 tonnes, and would cost between 35-60c/kg depending on the quality of the cut of meat and whether it was fresh or frozen.

Federated Farmers spokesman Bruce Wills said lamb producers could get more for their exports if they were better organised. He believed New Zealand lamb was being exported too cheaply.

Meat price tough

Mum of two Petra Barclay tries to buy lamb at a good price - and that generally means shopping around.

The Grey Lynn woman is often shocked by the price of meat, particularly lamb. "The price of meat is pretty scary. And [lamb] it's one of the meats that they don't discount often."

Barclay was staggered to learn lamb was cheaper to buy in Britain than New Zealand.

She shops every 10 days at Pak'nSave, but visits other supermarkets and stores to find specials.

The family eats lamb about once a week.

When the Herald On Sunday caught up with her she was dismayed to see a kilogram of chops selling for $21.99 at New World.

She wasn't going to pay that price and was off to find chops cheaper elsewhere.

Barclay said she "gets tired" of the food producers being blamed for high prices.

"I do think that the supermarkets get away with way too much."


anna.rushworth@hos.co.nz