PRICE RISES FOR SOME GROCERIES

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34022, 11 December 1975, Page 1

PRICE RISES FOR SOME GROCERIES

( By

JOHN McNEILL

Some of the major grocery-manufacturing companies have been granted price increases in the last week, and many items have been affected.

Some of the large companies have put up the price of only a few of their products, but others, including A.B. Consolidated, a Christchurch biscuit and confectionery manufacturer, and Wattie Industries, have been allowed to increase the prices of many of their lines.

If the Government sought to delay the increase in prices of groceries, it could probably only do this to firms with a turnover of more than ssm a year, for these are the only ones required to give the department a month’s notice. Perhaps it was a coincidence that the only rises notified during the last week have been from such firms.

For some manufacturers, this is the first increase since April, and since that time there have been the effects on manufacturers of the increase in wages, the devaluation of the New Zealand dollar, and the resulting increased cost of many imported commodities. Typical of the rises for A.B. Consolidated’s products, which have not risen since September 1, were malt biscuits (up 3c to 34c), cream icrackers (up 4c to 40c), and ’chocolate fingers (up 5c to :56c). The highest rise was 111.1 per cent for cream : crackers. i Watties, which was last granted an increase on September 13, has increased the prices of its baked beans, sliced peaches, spaghetti, and canned peas — all controlled

. by the Maximum Retail , Price scheme — by an aver- ■ age of 8.2 per cent. Its frozen peas have risen by 3c to 94c a kilo, and French fries by 3c to 54c per 500 g pack. Three soap products manufactured by Levers, which: went up in price in May,! have risen by an average of I 4.6 per cent. Two of these products — Cold Water Surf and Breeze toilet soap — are on the M.R.P. list. Some Birds Eye brands of frozen foods, last increased in October, have increased slightly, and the firm’s dehydrated Surprise peas and beans are up 3c. Economy-size toothpastes and Palmolive Dishwash, from Colgate-Palmolive, are up 8.5 per cent and 4.0 per cent respectively, although the last increase granted for Dishwash was on April 28. Some sources in the trade are also expecting similar rises for groceries from other manufacturers, and it is believed that one of the firms granted increases this week has applied for further increases already. The machinery of price controls, made more complicated by the introduction of the M.R.P. scheme, places the Trade and Industry Department in charge of prices of goods and services in different categories. Under the Commerce Act, passed earlier this year, items on the goods and services list not controlled by the M.R.P. scheme are now known as the “positive list,” and the Stabilisation of Price Regulations now control Category B goods and services. Manufacturers with an annual turnover of more than

issm, or service companies with a turnover of more than $500,000. must notify the department at least 28’ days before raising their prices. Many give more notice than this, and one company is known !to have applied already for ian increase on February 1. I Manufacturers with an annual turnover between sl.sm and ssm have to notify the department, but do not have to wait for permission or refusal, and all firms with annual turnovers between $500,000 and sl.sm must calculate any increase and keep these figures for inspection by the department if required.