Small suppliers to get supermarket collective bargaining powers

Pic Picot started his peanut butter empire in a garage in Nelson. Back then, he might have welcomed more bargaining power. (Image: NZME)

Pattrick Smellie

Wed, 24 Aug 2022

The government will allow small-scale suppliers of food and other groceries to jointly negotiate with New Zealand’s two dominant supermarket suppliers, as part of the ongoing shake-up of competition in the grocery sector.Competition law normally restricts businesses from banding together to set prices, but the power of the Foodstuffs and Woolworths duopoly to set terms with small suppliers is seen as one of the ways the sector is working unfairly in NZ.The announcement appeared to be the only new element announced at a press conference th...

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