Australians pay more for rapid antigen tests that sell for less overseas, despite an increase in the supply of the diagnostic kits.
New government rules that will require close contacts to use more tests to continue mixing in the community are expected to increase demand for the tests in coming days.
The ACT government will ease COVID rules, with household contacts now required to undertake a COVID-19 test and return a negative result every 48 hours if on-going attendance at a place of work or study is required, from 11.59pm on Tuesday, April 26.
Suppliers have defended the prices of rapid antigen tests, saying there are significant import costs to Australia.
The Pharmacy Guild said prices would likely fall after stock bought at higher cost at the peak of demand was sold and was replaced with tests bought at cheaper wholesale prices.
Simon Blacker, the branch president of the ACT Pharmacy Guild of Australia, said the reason the prices still remained between $15 to $25 a box was because pharmacies had excess supply purchased between December and February.
"We bought supply to try and predict demand. So you have instances where pharmacies will have an inventory that they're working through and some people will be buying in the market right now. So you've got scenarios where I think prices are coming down but perhaps not as quick as people might hope or you might expect," he said.
Mr Blacker said he thought demand would go up but prices were unlikely to rise.
"I think they will only creep down. If there were a surge in demand, I think there's adequate stock in the country to cope with that," he said.
The ACT government is exploring avenues for people to access rapid antigen tests and will have more information next week, Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith confirmed on Thursday.
"Rapid antigen tests are available at our COVID-19 testing centres for those people who meet the criteria for testing," she said.
"Most people who come to our testing centres, once they are there they prefer to get a PCR test, but we are looking at how we can distribute rapids to support these arrangements for people who are household contacts."
Flowflex, a brand of COVID-19 rapid antigen tests, cost about 10 pounds for a pack of five tests at a leading pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom, which is about $18. The same brand and pack of five cost about $50 in Australia.
An online German retailer listed the price of the Flowflex tests at 1.72 Euros, which is about $2.50 a unit. A major retailer in the country has other rapid antigen test brands listed for between 1.75 Euros and 2.75 Euros, which is roughly between $2.50 and $4.
A spokeswoman for AusDiagnostics, a company that imports Flowflex to Australia, declined to comment to The Canberra Times when asked about the price difference between the United Kingdom and Australia.
A price list provided by Solasta, which supplies another brand of rapid antigen tests in Australia, showed the wholesale price for an individual test was $3.95 in orders of 5000 units.
The price fell to $3.95 plus GST for a single one pack and $3.50 plus GST for a test when ordered in bulk as packs of five tests.
The recommended retail price was listed at $8.70 plus GST a unit for single test, $8.55 plus GST a unit in packets of for a five pack and $8.30 plus GST a unit in for a pack of 25 tests.
The Realy Tech nasal rapid antigen tests, which Solasta distributes, are listed for sale in Australia at retailers reviewed by The Canberra Times between $8.90 a unit and $11.37.
A spokesperson for the company said the factors which determined the total cost per test included a Therapeutic Goods Administration registration fee, along with the cost of diagnostic device consultants, independent scientific product testing, export charges, international airfreight, customs and import charges, domestic freight, local warehousing, and medical recall and liability insurance.
