Strawberry prices drop 43 per cent
The cost of strawberries in local supermarkets has been slashed due to a glut caused by border restrictions and soaring freight costs, newly released data from Stats NZ shows.
Strawberry prices were an average of $3.45 for a 250-gram punnet in November, down from $6.04 in October.
But while it is good news for those planning champagne with strawberries this summer, growers were ‘‘hurting like hell’’, the industry said.
Growers could not pick the fruit fast enough and many berries were too ripe for export, leading to an oversupply and drop in price.
‘‘Prices are lower than we typically see for a November month with December generally being when they are cheapest. Some people may be seeing even cheaper prices during the first half of December,’’ Stats NZ consumer price manager Katrina Dewbery said.
Strawberry Growers New Zealand executive manager Michael Ahern said the fruit was currently at its best.
‘‘There is only one thing we want from New Zealanders. Please go and buy plenty, straight away.’’
Planting decisions were made as early as January, and growers had made assumptions about export demand and labour availability early on.
‘‘In other words, distinctly before Covid,’’ Ahern said.
Despite a big effort by industry to convince the Government to allow
privately managed isolation facilities for foreign workers to assist with the harvest, the Government had given no ground. Higher export costs had exacerbated the issue, Ahern said.
Growers were resilient and had export business lined up but could not pick the crops. Some crops had been left in the field.
To make matters worse, the yields were good this year and the collective glut was going to
supermarkets, Ahern said.
‘‘They behave the way they are trained to behave and give the consumer the best possible deal and the grower is on the receiving end. ‘‘About now, it hurts like hell.’’ Longer term, growers would need an injection of confidence beforemaking decisions about planting a ‘‘criticalmass’’ of strawberry plants next year.
That could mean fewer strawberries for sale in 2021.
Growers were wondering if they would get labour for planting in May.
If there was no supply of labour for later in the year, it would be too big a risk for many of them to take, Ahern said.
‘‘Why would you waste your capital?’’
A continued labour shortage would also put fulltime workers in orchards at risk, he said.