95bFM Food prices stabilising in New Zealand, but ‘spiralling out of control’ in poorer nations
March 27, 2025
Interview by Sara McKoy, adapted by Sanat Singh
Head of Advocacy and Justice at World Vision Rebekah Armstrong says that poorer nations are seeing far higher food prices and that New Zealand government needs to do more in addressing global food insecurity through its humanitarian response mechanisms.
An implication of the cost-of-living crisis in Aotearoa has been the persistent inflation of food prices.
However, Research released in World Vision’s Price Shocks Report 2025 shows that food prices in New Zealand are stabilising.
Despite this, the report also highlights a disparity in terms of food affordability between wealthier nations such as New Zealand, and poorer nations.
Head of Advocacy and Justice at World Vision, Rebekah Armstrong, told 95bFM’s The Wire that analysis produced by this report demonstrates how key factors are driving up food prices in poorer nations.
“We're seeing things like conflicts, climate change, [and] economic shocks which are the main driver[s] of food insecurity, with 70% of people now facing hunger in conflict-affected areas.”
Armstrong says New Zealand is no stranger to climate crisis-driven supply chain disruptions, citing Cyclone Gabrielle as a key price shock in our domestic food price inflation.
She says this has since stabilised as there has been “some real effort to work on the price of fruit and vegetables in particular and so we saw that those came down in price.”
Despite this, Armstrong says this is not the case globally.
A key finding of this report is how in poorer countries, it would take more than a week to earn enough for basic food items, as compared to New Zealand where the same amount of money could be earned in two and a half hours.
According to Armstrong, this is getting worse.
“While food prices are stabilising in wealthier countries they're actually spiralling out of control in fragile nations.”
Armstrong and World Vision are advocating for the government to prioritise humanitarian food assistance — especially to the Asia-Pacific region, increased investment in climate adaptation, and more pressure to uphold humanitarian laws across current conflicts.
“Governments need to be providing this urgent life-saving assistance and not reneging on their international commitments and their global responsibilities to help in a humanitarian way,” Armstrong says.
The report further highlights that countries in the Pacific more vulnerable to climate-related events such as major droughts, floods and extreme weather, are the countries struggling to afford food.
Armstrong wants the government to focus on its Official Development Assistance (ODA). This is the mechanism by which nations decide what level of their gross national income is put towards humanitarian aid.
“There is a global agreement that every country should be trying to reach at least 0.7% of their gross national income. That just literally means 70 cents out of every 100 dollars.”
New Zealand’s ODA is comparatively small and does not meet the global standard.
Aotearoa’s ODA sits at 0.3%, or 30 cents, out of every $100 dollars of our gross national income, which World Vision are advocating to be increased to 0.37%.
“We would say that one of the best ways the New Zealand government can continue to help is to increase its ODA,” Armstrong says.
Although New Zealand’s food price inflation has stabilised, many are still feeling the crunch of food affordability and food costs in the supermarket. Armstrong explains that she believes that the current supermarket duopoly has a major role to play in this.
Although they have a “real responsibility to be ensuring that they’re providing affordable food for New Zealanders,” Armstrong believes communities and the public at large have a far bigger role to play in our food market.
She believes that solutions that are more community-driven, such as sharing and growing produce, “would actually go a really long way for people who are struggling to afford food right now”.
