Greywarbler had a comment that got away and grew on its own. Picked out of Open mike.
Australia again. I wish they would adopt an honourable and fair stance to New Zealand instead of using us whenever they want to gain advantage for themselves or throw a hissy fit.
Now they are discriminating against our food exports in two large supermarkets, one of which has a large store ownership here.
This behaviour has to be set alongside the predatory behaviour I think last year where they ran store promotions competing on lowering milk prices to some extent at least, deducted from their payments to their milk suppliers. No doubt this was not the suppliers would have agreed to. I understand it put a strain on their businesses. But when large fierce animals fight the smaller ones must retreat..
NBR today
The campaign by Australian supermarkets Coles and Woolworths has seen New Zealand produced goods stripped off supermarket shelves across the Tasman.
Big Australian supermarkets Coles and Woolworths are systematically removing New Zealand produced goods from their “house brand” labels simply for being non-Australian.
Frozen foods, cheese and fresh vegetables are among the products affected.
Radionz News today
Food exporters have accused Australian supermarkets of taking New Zealand products off their shelves in an effort to appear more patriotic.
They claim the move goes against the spirit of trade agreements between the two countries.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand and Australia have the most comprehensive bilateral free-trade agreement in the world.But Food and Grocery Council chief executive Katherine Rich said that is not stopping Coles and Woolworths from stripping New Zealand food from their supermarket shelves as part of a Buy Australia campaign.
She said exporters were scared to talk about the problem publicly in case they were blacklisted by the supermarkets.
The Labour Party’s economic development spokesperson, Shane Jones, said several exporters had raised the problem with him.
Prime Minister John Key said he would put the issue on the table when he meets Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Friday.
Neither Coles nor Woolworths were immediately available to give a response.
I wonder how our brave Don Quixote will fare (fear) to deal with the nasty tough back-stabbing Ozzies.
Seeing that Progressive here in NZ has been bought by Australian interests, Woolworths, it’s like trying to have their cake and eat it, in both countries.
Some background –
In 2010 there was this comment about Woolworths.
Woolworths imagined in their mind they were going to come into New Zealand and romp home, and to date they’ve had their head handed to them on a plate,” he exclaims.
Morris reckons Asian supermarkets now account for at least 5 per cent of sales in Auckland, but he concedes Foodstuffs and Progressive still have a huge stranglehold nationally.
In 2005, he estimated that between them they controlled 78 per cent of all retail food purchases in New Zealand.
Foodstuffs is, in fact, New Zealand’s second-biggest business behind Fonterra.
Tony Carter has headed the giant co-operative since 2001, after doing time in the family firm (Carter Group) and then working his way up to the chairmanship of Mitre 10. Carter, who incidentally is the brother of Agriculture Minister David Carter, admits few people seem to
appreciate its size.
Summary..
Countdown is a New Zealand full-service supermarket chain, owned by Woolworths Limited. Founded in 1981, Countdown is the flagship brand of Progressive Enterprises, Woolworths’ New Zealand supermarket subsidiary,
and
1948: Progressive Enterprises was established in 1949 by the Picot Family
1961: Progressive Enterprises became the parent company to Foodtown Supermarkets Limited.
(Foodtown between 1958-1961 owned by independents before Picot bought into it.)
1988: Progressive Enterprises became part of Australian business Coles Myer
1992: Coles Myer relaunched Progressive Enterprises onto the New Zealand stock exchange as a public company.
On 25 May 2005, it was announced that Woolworths Limited, one of Australia’s largest retailers, would be purchasing Progressive along with 22 Action stores in Australia. The deal was worth approximately NZ$2.5 billion and culminated in the official transfer of assets on 24 November 2005.
Store brands :
Countdown: 166 supermarket stores
SuperValue: 41 stores – convenience supermarket stores, run as a franchise
Freshchoice: 16 stores – Higher quality supermarket with a large range, run as a franchise
It operates online grocery shopping in the name of Countdown. [
(The Woolworths and Foodtown brands were phased out in early 2012.)
And still NZ owned is Foodstuffs –
Foodstuffs (NZ) Ltd is a group of two New Zealand grocery and liquor retailers’ cooperatives based in the North Island and the South Island which collectively control an estimated 52% of the New Zealand grocery market. The group owns retail franchises 4 Square, New World and Pak’nSave, in-store private labels Pam’s and Budget, the Bell Tea and Coffee Company and a ten percent stake in The Warehouse.
Incidentally – Progressive recently bought a 10% share of The Warehouse Group, New Zealand’s largest retailer.
Greywarbler
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