In the 34 years that Tasmanian greengrocer Ben Parsons has been in business, he has never seen potato prices as high as they are now.
The price of a 500kg potato bin has almost doubled from $250 a few years ago, but Mr Parsons has only raised his prices for a 10kg sack of spuds by about 25 per cent – shielding his customers.
“It’s the highest our prices have been for potatoes,” Mr Parsons told The New Daily.
The squeeze is set to continue, with Mr Parsons predicting Australia’s well-publicised potato shortage, which started last year when widespread floods wiped out crops nationwide, will continue in 2023.
“There will be a shortage this year – farmers are still catching up with plantings,” he said.
But prices for broccoli, celery and carrots have eased recently as supplies have improved following disruptions during 2022.
“All those goods are back to normal, pre-COVID prices,” Mr Parsons said.
As far as popular Tasmanian fruits are concerned, apple and cherry growers are likely to be forced to jack up prices later this year amid persistent labour shortages hurting their businesses.
“Our biggest problem has been the labour market, it’s impacting the specialty fruit industry,” he said.
Shoppers look to cheaper cuts
For Mark Timms, owner of the Wyndham supermarket in the north-west of Western Australia, his biggest issue has been the recent floods that cut off the best road access to his community, making it very difficult to keep fresh fruit, vegetables and meat on shelves.
Customers are buying cheaper cuts of meat, including mutton and chicken drumsticks over more expensive cuts of beef, lamb and chicken, Mr Timms told The New Daily.
“We still sell plenty of dearer cuts, but the pressure on all beef and chicken and lamb has been upwards for a couple of years now,” Mr Timms said.
“Mutton is still relatively cheap and pork hasn’t changed.”
According to ABS figures, beef and veal prices rose 9 per cent in the 12 months to the December quarter of last year, while pork prices rose 4 per cent – below headline inflation.
In the fruit and vegetable aisle, prices have been falling in recent months after soaring last year on the back of disruptive floods across Australia’s east coast, Mr Timms said.
“It has eased again in the last few weeks to some degree, tomatoes particularly have come down a lot,” he said.
Meat prices holding firm, mostly
Kaaron Mitchell, owner of Pink Lake Butchers in Esperance, Western Australia, said her customers have also been buying cheaper cuts amid rising meat prices.
But she told The New Daily that inflation has stabilised for protein in the early months of 2023.
“It’s been pretty stable for the past couple of months,” she said. “But there was a significant rise during COVID-19.”
Ms Mitchell said she has been recommending customers get more creative in the kitchen to avoid the worst of the cost-of-living squeeze.
“You can cook everything from pulled pork to chicken cacciatore, curried sausages and osso buco,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be scotch fillet every second night.”
“People want scotch fillet for steak sandwiches, but I say, ‘have you tried oyster blade?’.”
Ms Mitchell said it’s too early to tell how meat prices more broadly will change in 2023, but she does expect lamb prices will begin to creep up again heading into the winter and spring months.
“Prices have changed so substantially since I took the shop over 12 years ago,” Ms Mitchell said.
“I see some of our old invoices and am just amazed by the old prices.”
