Time for part two of this series – this time I’ll tell a bit about the supermarkets and generally food prices in New Zealand (based on my humble knowledge – do not expect professional information).

If you’ve been to a supermarket here before and you’re from Central Europe or the US/Canada, you’ll have noticed that food prices are significantly higher, especially when it comes to dairy products. It’s certainly odd since the dairy industry generates probably among the highest profits for the country and is generally bigger than the ones in, for example, Europe. The only logical reason is the small, almost non-existent competition on the NZ market; buying a bottle of lower-than-average quality milk will set you back by the same amount of money as average or even better quality milk over in the “Old World”. Let’s start with the supermarkets first.

Continue reading →