Kiwis are fuming after further New Zealand meat prices have been found to be cheaper overseas as the cost of living crisis continues to bite.
The price of 300g of New Zealand lamb mince from Qatar grocery store LuLu was QAR 19.25 (NZD$8.51). The grocery store website said the lamb mince had to be consumed within 24 hours.
When this was compared to the equivalent item at Countdown, 400g of NZ lamb mince was $12.
When you break this down, 300g of NZ lamb mince at Countdown is $9, so it was cheaper to buy it in Qatar than in New Zealand.
It wasn't just Qatar where New Zealand lamb mince was cheaper than at Countdown.
According to the UK supermarket company Sainsbury's website, 500g of New Zealand lamb mince is £5.10 (NZD$10.20). So when this is broken down, it costs £3.06 (NZD$6.12) for 300g of lamb mince in the UK.
According to the website of the other two large supermarkets in Aotearoa, New Zealand lamb mince is selling for $28.49 per kg ($8.55 for 300g) at New World and $21.99 per kg ($6.60 for 300g) at Pak'nSave.
The CEO of Beef + Lamb New Zealand Kit Arkwright told Newshub in a statement the price of meat is set by the retailer.
"Often retailers will run specials on meat as a loss leader as a way of attracting customers into their store, on the basis that if they buy their protein from that retailer they are likely to buy everything else in the dish from that store too," Arkwright said.
"Research from the UK suggests that when meat, fish or poultry is bought from a retailer, that retailer will own £3 in every £4 spent on consumers’ plates."
The cheaper prices of New Zealand meat overseas has seen Kiwis fume on social media as the cost of living crisis continues to bite in New Zealand.
One person said, "They are a business and want to make as much money as possible".
Another person added, "$30 a kg is f*****g outrageous but who is paying that? If I saw that price id (sic) change the recipe or what I was cooking. They can only charge outrageous prices if people will pay them."
A third person said, "Fuming over the price of mince. It used to be our cheap option".
This comes after it was revealed a leg of lamb was selling for $12.82 (£6.50/kg) at a Sainsbury supermarket in the UK compared to $17.99 per kg at Pak'nSave, $22.99 per kg at New World and $17.90 per kg or approximately $48.33 each at Countdown.
The cost of living crisis has been hitting Kiwis hard over the last 12 to 24 months.
It was revealed last month New Zealand's GDP (gross domestic product) shrunk by 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to Stats NZ.
This means Aotearoa is just one quarter away from being in a recession.
Inflation is also hitting Kiwis hard, with our current annual consumer price index (CPI) sitting at 7.2 percent.
Annual inflation has skyrocketed from 4.9 percent in the September 2021 quarter compared to a whopping 7.2 percent in the same quarter last year. It comes after years of low inflation.
Countdown has been approached for comment.
