Families feeling the pinch could always rely on beef mince to stretch the grocery budget, but prices have increased about $3.50 a kilogram from a year ago.
The average price analysed by Statistics New Zealand was up about 17.5% at $23.11 per kilogram in the year to September.
Shoppers are looking at smaller mince portions and shopping around or buying chicken and pork to extend their food dollar.
However, the Christchurch City Mission said the escalating weekly grocery bill was leaving low-income families with few options to cover their needs.
Christchurch City Missioner Corinne Haines said mince had become too expensive for low-income families.
“It was always known as the cheap meat option, but now our foodbank and financial mentor clients can’t afford it. Sausages and chicken are probably the cheaper options now. The high cost of food is a significant problem for all our clients.”
Families facing bills and debt had always turned to cutting food costs to try to get by, but they were unable to do this because of the overall high price, she said.
“Mince used to be a way you could buy a pack and split it into two or three meals by adding extra bits, like vegetables or pasta, to make it go further, but price rises are making this way of saving money more difficult.”
She said the mission valued all its meat donations, but mince was prized because it could be used in so many ways.
Priority was being given to large families ahead of individuals to help maximise the benefit.
Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen said the high beef mince prices were hitting everyone at the moment.
“There was a period where we were completely losing our minds over butter and mince appears to be the new butter at the moment in terms of the price increase coming through.”
Beef mince prices had continued to push up the past 1.5 years because of international supply and demand.
“You don’t have nearly as much supply of beef in the global market and if you look at the likes of the US even with the tariffs and that they are still having to take a fair amount of NZ beef because they don’t have as many cattle themselves.”
He said it could be worse as increased prices for cattle at slaughter were higher over the past year.
Mince prices were unlikely to lower any time soon as there was little change in beef demand around the world, he said.
In comparison, sausages average $13.52/kg, pork loin chops $16.82/kg and chicken breast $15.54/kg.
A Stats NZ spokeswoman said lamb chops averaging $21.70/kg were similar to $23.11/kg for beef mince, but beef blade steak was $28.70/kg and porterhouse steak averaged $43.26/kg.
A year ago, sausages averaged $12.50/kg, pork loin chops were more expensive at $17.14/kg, chicken breast was $15.65/kg, lamb chops $18.31/kg, blade steak $24.88/kg, and porterhouse and sirloin $36.65/kg.
University of Otago economics senior lecturer Dr Murat Ungor said the soaring price of beef mince reflected a broader trend affecting household essentials, from butter to cheese.
“This surge is largely driven by global market forces: strong international demand means New Zealand consumers are effectively competing with overseas buyers for locally produced goods, tying domestic prices to global rates rather than local production costs alone.”
He said the effect of a 2.4% increase in the cost of living for average householders the past year was significant as they were already stretching their budgets.
Food marketing lecturer Dr Robert Hamlin said Kiwis were competing for beef based on an international price against countries which could afford to pay more.
He said international prices for exported meat, dairy or other commodities changed radically according to supply.
“It only takes a very small surplus or shortfall in the global supply of food compared with the global demand for it to massively spike the international price of food. … We are very vulnerable to that because basically the government and the farmers are saying ‘you are subject to the international price of food’.”
He said Ireland was an example of a country that had been subjected to the international price of food. During the potato famine of 1840, when nearly 40% of the population starved to death, Ireland continuing to be a major food exporter.
Dr Hamlin said it was possible international prices of food staples in New Zealand could quickly rise beyond the capacity of many to buy them.
This needed to be addressed by the government, he said.
Dr Ungor said families could take practical steps to manage food pressure by buying in bulk when prices dipped, vigilantly monitoring supermarket specials and comparing unit prices across brands.
“While these strategies won’t eliminate the impact of global price forces, they can provide meaningful relief for household budgets facing sustained pressure from rising food costs.”
