Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour defends high butter prices, highlights benefits for farmers
'Or we can ask ourselves, how do we ensure that New Zealand has a growing economy, a high-wage economy, so that when prices spike like this it doesn't have a big impact on families.'
He claimed petrol prices were low at the moment, and those were high when dairy was cheap so the consistent theme was that 'need for a high wage economy'.
Yesterday, Finance Minister Nicola Willis met with Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell to discuss the high prices, though Seymour said the meeting was not unusual.
'I think people have misrepresented the whole purpose of the meeting'.
Willis told Bridge yesterday morning the meeting would not solely be about butter, but the high price paid by New Zealanders for the dairy product would be on the agenda.
'I will be asking about their retail pricing model, how they're seeing the supermarkets' margins, how they're seeing their own margins, understanding what's getting through to the consumer and whether there's anything we can do there.'
In May, Fonterra posted a $1.158 billion Q3 profit and pitched its farmgate milk price forecast for the 2025/26 season in a range of $8-$11 per kg of milk solids.
Inflation figures released yesterday show the consumer price index (CPI) increased 2.7% in the 12 months to the June 2025 quarter. That means the official inflation rate is at its highest point in the last year.
Green Party co-leader Chloe Swarbrick said there needed to be greater urgency when breaking up the supermarket duopoly.
'That looks, of course, like greater transparency around particularly supply chains. And there's been a lot of words on it, but not a heck of a lot of action.'
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