The high price of food

Not long after arriving in Germany I became quite astounded by the exorbitantly high price of food. In New Zealand I mean. One euro currently buys around NZ$1.55 so the exchange rate is more favourable that it usually is for travelling Kiwis. But still, you could halve the rate and make it $3.00 per euro and food would still be cheaper in Germany than it is in New Zealand. And guess where the biggest difference is? You guessed right, if you thought dairy foods.

My first little shopping trip was to the convenience supermarket, not unlike a New Zealand Four Square. So I was expecting to pay even more, and not everything on the shelf was priced. I noticed some of the prices looked low but wasn't too sure if I understood things correctly. I only had 30 euros on me, and didn't really want to use my credit card. So, I filled up a shopping basket including a six pack of beer, some camembert cheese, 2 pottles of yogurt, 2 litres of water, some fancy bread, 200g of cherries, a litre of orange juice, a dozen eggs, and a couple of other items. I looked in the basket and thought it would be around NZ$45 at the supermarket, and even more at a convenience store. The total came to around 8 euros, or NZ$12. A six pack of beer for less than $3? I mean really, I can hardly home brew it at that price.

But the worst was the dairy products. Fancy cheese at less than $1 when I was expecting to pay $4-6, pottles of yogurt at 20c when I was expecting 5 times that. And the next day, milk for less than a dollar a litre.

Shame on you Fonterra, and you dairy farmers. You can't say it's just business. You need to assume some responsibility for those around you. These same people educate your children, look after you when you are sick, pay taxes to build roads to your farms, but you still think it's OK to rip them off? I bet you complain like mad when the school puts its very modest fees up, or they guy fixing your kitchen appliance charges you more than you think is fair. What do you pay for kiwifruit or apples? You don't see these products at 4 times German prices? You see them at about a half or less. Why does fresh milk cost less than NZ$1 a litre in Germany? Why is cheese more than 4 times more expensive in New Zealand? And butter?