New Zealand shoppers are finding cheese prices are almost double the price charged in Australia.
New Zealand is considered the lowest-cost and greatest exporter of dairy products in the world, yet its domestic shoppers pay higher prices.
A spokesman for Fonterra, which holds a monopoly on New Zealand dairy exports, said part of the reason is that the country exports about 95 per cent of production, but Australia about 30 per cent.
Fonterra also pegs the price it pays farmers for milk to a global index.
Whatever the reasons, consumers find that a Countdown-branded one-kilogram package of Tasty Cheese was sold for $18.50 in New Zealand, but sold for $10 in Australia.
The Kiwis said the cheeses are different.
But Mainland tasty cheese was the same in both New Zealand and in Australia, but was still $6.60 cheaper across the Tasman.
A 500-gram block of Mainland cheese, a Fonterra brand, sells for $14 in New Zealand and $8.25 in Australia.
