Chch retailers hit by white ware shortage

Press, 1 March 1984, Page 9

Chch retailers hit by white ware shortage

Whiteware dealers approached by “The Press” yesterday reported moderate to serious shortages of the items. Most dealers said the high" demand was a result of price increases widely expected by consumers with the lifting of the price freeze today. The South Island branch controller of Farmers Trading Company, Mr. Geoffrey Maxwell, said the firm was experiencing ‘“very serious” shortages of whiteware products, particularly refrigerated items. “We are not taking orders for some items we know won’t be replenished for some time,” he said. Farmers had waiting lists for many appliances. Whiteware makers had been caught by the downturn in demand last year, and in the last month the “bubble had burst” with increased consumer demand. He did not expect the situation to ease until ApriL Mr Maxwell said'he had had no indication of a price rise in whiteware products as yet, but thought if prices did increase they would not increase much.

The general manager of Smiths: City. Market, Mr Peter Leaning, also aaid he >d received no notication it a price increase, wut did

not expect increases to be sizeable. He said Smiths City Market had had “record sales” of whiteware in recent weeks and had waiting lists for some of the more popular models, although the list of scarce products was changing daily. “These products are manufactured to order, and there is not the back-up capacity to satisfy an increase in .demand. If we don’t anticipate an increase in sales, it takes some time to correct it,” he said. Mr Leeming expected the situation to ease in a few weeks. Both Mr Leeming and Mr Maxwell said their stores had sent a lot of whiteware products to Invercargill after the Southland floods, and this had contributed to the shortage. “A lot of consumer durables are. going down there, and a lot of Southlanders have come up to Christchurch ; to make furniture purchases,” said Mr Leem-

mg. The sales supervisor of Noel Leaning Appliance Centres, Mr Tony Hampton, said Leemings had waiting lists for most models, and was taking orders unless it knew it would not be able to supply the item sought'We haven’t bad pjpple waiting for long period# We

are getting models in, but only in small quantities and they are going in and out in a day,” he said.

The general manager of the Municipal Electricity Department, Mr C. S. Laurie, said it had had a 60 per cent increase in sales over the last few months, which was probably a result of people’s expecting price rises after the price freeze ended.

A reason put forward for the shortage has been that Fisher and Paykel, manufacturer of most whiteware appliances in New Zealand, was exporting as many products as it could to Australia to take advantage of the Ooser Economic Relations agreement One retailer said this was a “suspicion widely shared,” although another said he did not think this was a deliberate policy of Fisher and Paykel. The marketing director of Fisher and Paykel, Mr Gary Paykel, said Fisher and Paykel was not giving priority to Australia.

“Demand in Australia has picked up, and our distributor there would like us to sell more product there,” he said.

Mr Paykel said his company was working very hard to fill the production

gap but it was difficult, as production supply lines determined six to eight months in advance had to be altered.

“We are running production levels much higher than the comparable time last year,” he said. Although there was a downturn in demand for whiteware products last year, Fisher and Paykel did not declare any redundancies, said Mr Paykel. Now that demand had increased, more staff had been taken on, including some schoolleavers.

Although there were shortages, their extent was difficult to gauge. Because people wanting to buy an appliance inquired at several shops, they went on all the waiting lists. of those shops, and therefore the true number of people on* waiting lists was difficult to telL

Mr Paykel said his company had not applied to the Trade and Industry Department for a price increase.

“That is not to say we will not do so if our costs increase. We are continually reassessing the situation,” he said.

Mr paykel emphasised that whiteware products imported from Australia under CJjJJt. were still available to New Zealand consumers.