Chillis were an eye-watering $229.99 a kilogram at New World Blenheim this week.
Locally grown chilli prices have got spicy – in fact almost too hot to handle – as they tip over more than $220 a kilogram.
The eye-watering price shocked Australian couple Mark and Joanne Radnor, who were sent a photo of the price at New World Blenheim by their daughter, Emily.
”We have two daughters in NZ, and travel there when Covid lets us, and the prices in supermarkets in NZ makes our eyes water,” Mark said.
“One of our daughters recently sent us a photo of chillies in her supermarket, and I have retorted with one of the chillies in our supermarket, at literally a tenth of the price.”
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The photo showed the New Zealand-grown loose red chillies were $229.9 a kilogram.
Mark’s photo of Australia-grown chillies at his local Woolworths in Wangaratta, Victoria, showed they were selling for AU$26 a kg (NZ$28.92).
Capsicums or sweet peppers are the milder-tasting members of the chilli family.
“And we’d call that expensive,” he said.
“Ginger there is $45 a kilo, and in Victoria St, Melbourne, it is $9.95.”
A spokesperson for Woolworths in Australia said it had a warmer climate that was better suited to growing chillies and ensuring a supply year-round.
Foodstuffs head of public relations, Emma Wooster, said locally grown chilies were grown in hothouses and were in short supply this year due to the lack of sunlight and recent cold snap.
“While the per-kilogram price for New Zealand-grown chillies might seem a lot, a little of the hot vegetable goes a long way and customers usually only buy one or two to spice up their meals.”
Ajay Jina, managing director of Jina’s World of Fresh Produce, said all varieties of chillies were out of season during the winter.
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Meanwhile at a Victoria Woolworths, chillies were AU$26.
“However, there are a few selected growers nationwide that can supply, with increased costs, at this time of year in the off-season,” he said.
The supply shortage had been exacerbated by a major grower pulling out its crops early, he said.
“This has led to an increased shortage. With ever-increasing costs and this shortage of supply, the price of chillies has risen.”
Jina said the best thing to do avoid the price hikes was to buy in season, with summer being the cheapest time to buy.
“Buy plenty and freeze them. They freeze really well and will then be affordable and convenient at any time.”
In October last year, chilli lovers were urged to grown their own after the price per kg reached $121.99.
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