I don’t think inclusive pricing and the cost of goods are necessarily linked, there are many other reasons goods and services could be more expensive in NZ.

Oh there are, rules around employees, consumer guarantees act, acc levies and various other things. But it seems unlikely that have just 2 food suppliers isn’t a root cause of food price issues.

Australian here

Isn't it mostly just economies of scale plus transport costs?

Or are our industrial relations laws really not as good?

It's more about farming subsidies and tax levels. Some governments choose to make food cheap by encouraging overproduction.

Overproduction (by subsidy) is also very useful to cope with poor harvests, supply shortages due to wars etc.

Discussion on the European system for this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Agricultural_Policy#Ove...

It looks like New Zealand charges a 15% VAT which is applied when New Zealand residents buy anything in Europe but not when New Zealand goods are exported, maybe that could be where the cost is?

There is VAT when you buy in the UK too though. New Zealanders pay 50-100% what those in the UK do for groceries, though this varies depending on how you measure or what you read.

https://simplenewzealand.com/cost-of-living-in-new-zealand-v....

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2021/09/shopper-s-recei...

https://thespinoff.co.nz/money/12-08-2021/how-do-nz-grocery-...