{"id":17325,"date":"2026-05-06T05:57:03","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T17:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=17325"},"modified":"2026-05-06T05:57:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T17:57:03","slug":"how-can-foreign-butter-and-veges-be-cheaper-than-new-zealand-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=17325","title":{"rendered":"How can foreign butter (and veges) be cheaper than New Zealand-made?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How can food products that travel into New Zealand from other countries end up being cheaper than those produced locally?<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a question some shoppers have been asking because US butter Burtfield&#8217;s &amp; Co is being sold at Pak&#8217;n Save supermarkets for $6.99 a block, compared to $8.39 for the Pam&#8217;s product.<\/p>\n<p>But it&#8217;s not the only imported product that is available more cheaply than locally produced options.<\/p>\n<p>The cheapest frozen spinach this week, for example, was packed in Belgium from local and imported spinach. Frozen baby carrots were also imported.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"h-screen max-h-[calc(10rem*var(--base-multiplier))] min-h-[calc(6rem*var(--base-multiplier))]\">\n<section class=\"@container\/queue-media relative w-full h-full bg-surface-muted\" aria-label=\"Audio player - Where should I be investing right now?\">\n<div class=\"flex h-full\">\n<div class=\"@[16.25em]\/queue-media:block bg-theme-primary relative hidden aspect-square h-full flex-none overflow-hidden\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"absolute h-full w-full object-cover\" src=\"https:\/\/media.rnztools.nz\/rnz\/image\/upload\/s--sYbpB-5t--\/t_kt-podcast-internal-cover-high\/f_auto,w_100\/4K1PJUZ_no_stupid_questions_with_susan_edmunds_cover_internal_png?_a=BAMAMiiu0\" alt=\"\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" aria-hidden=\"true\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"@container\/queue-media-content h-full w-full\">\n<div class=\"flex h-full w-full flex-grow flex-col justify-between overflow-hidden p-8\">\n<div class=\"text-foreground-primary flex flex-col gap-4 light-theme\">\n<h3 class=\"order-2 mb-4 line-clamp-2 text-sm\"><span class=\"block\">Where should I be investing right now?<\/span><\/h3>\n<div class=\"order-1 flex items-baseline gap-8 text-xs leading-snug\"><span class=\"whitespace-nowrap tabular-nums text-xs text-foreground-primary\"><time datetime=\"2026-05-06\">6 May 2026<\/time><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex items-center justify-between gap-4\">\n<div class=\"@[6.5em]\/queue-media-content:gap-8 flex flex-grow items-center gap-4\"><button class=\"group\/button font-sans-semibold flex-shrink-0 items-center justify-center gap-8 whitespace-nowrap rounded-full border leading-normal flex h-24 w-24 [&amp;&gt;svg]:h-[calc(1.8rem*var(--base-multiplier))] [&amp;&gt;svg]:w-[calc(1.8rem*var(--base-multiplier))] hover:bg-surface-hover hover:text-white dark-theme bg-surface-accent text-foreground-primary border-transparent\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Play Where should I be investing right now?\"><\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"@container\/queue-add-button inline-flex w-full\"><button class=\"group\/button font-sans-semibold flex-shrink-0 items-center justify-center gap-8 whitespace-nowrap rounded-full border leading-normal flex gap-[calc(0.5rem*var(--base-multiplier))] px-8 pb-[calc(0.25rem*var(--base-multiplier))] pt-[calc(0.15rem*var(--base-multiplier))] text-sm hover:bg-surface-hover hover:text-white light-theme border-stroke-strong text-foreground-primary bg-transparent hover:border-surface-hover @[4.38em]\/queue-add-button:flex hidden\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Queue Where should I be investing right now?\"><span class=\"inline-flex items-center gap-[calc(0.3rem*var(--base-multiplier))]\"><span class=\"font-sans-normal\">Queue<\/span><\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"sr-only\" aria-live=\"polite\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ml-auto flex h-full items-center gap-4\">\n<div class=\"relative -top-4 right-2 h-24 w-24\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub said imported butter had been cheaper than export prices for the past two years.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The main thing is the US has a record dairy herd. They&#8217;ve had some problems in terms of exporting to China because of the trade wars, they have a bit of a glut locally. It&#8217;s not normal for us to have import prices that are less than export prices.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But he said the amount of butter being imported was &#8220;tiny&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Four percent of our consumption in the last 12 months, so a really small amount. It comes with all the issues of logistics, of transporting a bulk commodity around the world.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>rnz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How can food products that travel into New Zealand from other countries end up being cheaper than those produced locally? It&#8217;s a question some shoppers have been asking because US butter Burtfield&#8217;s &amp; Co is being sold at Pak&#8217;n Save supermarkets for $6.99 a block, compared to $8.39 for the Pam&#8217;s product. But it&#8217;s not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":17326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-nz-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17325"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17327,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17325\/revisions\/17327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}