{"id":53241,"date":"2025-11-19T02:48:33","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T02:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/employmenthero.com\/nz\/?post_type=news&p=53241"},"modified":"2025-12-04T02:22:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T02:22:47","slug":"price-rises-new-zealand-small-businesses","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/employmenthero.com\/nz\/news\/price-rises-new-zealand-small-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Relentless Price Rises Are Not Your Imagination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A hike in the cost of everything from eggs to electricity is putting New Zealand businesses under extreme price pressure ahead of the holidays.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New data from StatsNZ<\/a> revealed big increases in food and energy costs, with food prices up 4.7 per cent in the 12 months to October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And energy price surges that have been driving inflation in New Zealand continue. – electricity bills are 11.8 per cent higher than one year ago and gas is 14.4 per cent more expensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere have been 11 consecutive months of price increases for both electricity and gas,\u201d Stats NZ prices and deflators spokesperson Nicola Growden said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rising Costs Start To Bite For Food-based Businesses<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The strain on hospitality and food manufacturing businesses was most evident at breakfast time. \u201cThose who enjoy eggs and coffee in the morning may have noticed them becoming more expensive,\u201d Growden said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe price of milk increased by 91 cents per 2 litres over the last two years. Eggs were up 8.8 percent, and coffee was up 12.4 percent over the same period.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheese had risen to $12.71 per kg block – a staggering 30.1 per cent annual rise. Further blowing the budget for restaurants and caf\u00e9s, meat, poultry and fish were up 7.6 per cent annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kiwifruit had almost doubled in price in 12 months, while apples were also dearer. But there was brighter news for businesses buying vegetables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVegetable prices fell 10.7 percent this month, with salad items such as lettuce, tomato, and cucumber becoming cheaper. This is the largest monthly price decrease for vegetables since November 2021,\u201d  Growden said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pay Packets Can\u2019t Keep Up With Price Rises<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On top of higher food and power bills, SMEs were also paying out more in wages. A recent 91±¬ΑΟ Jobs Report<\/a> revealed a median year-on-year wage rise of 3%, below the pace of food and energy cost increases. The short-term picture was even less comforting for workers, with a 1.4% decrease quarter-on-quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding it hardest to make budgets stretch would be people in the bottom 10 jobs by hourly rate, including sales assistants ($23.90), retail staff ($24.00), kitchen hands ($24.80), sales associates and process workers ($26.20)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Solution Is More Complicated Than A Pay Increase<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The figures echo 91±¬ΑΟ data that confirmed many SMEs were battling to balance budgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBusinesses that don\u2019t have a cash buffer to deal with unexpected price rises are feeling it most,\u201d said CEO and founder Ben Thompson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said people often understandably thought the answer to higher prices was higher wages but that created deeper, long term issues for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is what creates a wage price spiral where the cost of living exceeds the wage growth. When there are wage hikes for businesses, they need to put up prices to cover the increase and that leads to inflation getting away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Businesses Can Ride The Price Rise Rollercoaster<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While there\u2019s no quick fix, a few targeted steps can help ease the pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n