The price of lettuce has finally dropped at major supermarkets from soaring highs of $11.99 to a modest $2.50, as vegetable stocks return following months of supply chain issues.
Shaun Lindhe, national manager of communications at AusVeg, said prices had gone down as the availability of produce increased, particularly in areas recovering from flooding events.
“Over the last few months, we have seen good conditions in many vegetable-growing regions, as well as increased supply from growers heavily impacted by severe floods earlier in the year – particularly southern Queensland, which is a major vegetable production region in the winter months,” he said.
“This is resulting in an increased supply and availability of vegetables, including fresh lettuce in the market.”
A Woolworths spokesperson said the cost of lettuce had decreased to $2.90 across New South Wales stores, along with 400 other “springtime grocery staples”.
At Coles a head of iceberg was retailing at $2.50 each, while at Aldi lettuce was hovering at about $2.99.
Lindhe said he expected supermarkets would lower prices for other vegetable lines as availability rose in spring and summer.
The price drop is welcome news for consumers anticipating the expiration of the fuel excise cut at the end of September.
The $3bn cut, introduced by the former federal government, saved consumers 22.1 cents for every litre of fuel they bought – saving a family with two cars who filled up once a week “around $30 a week”.
Marion Terrill, city programs director of the Grattan Institute, said it was too early to predict how the lifting of the fuel excise would affect consumers at the bowser.
“The price of a litre of petrol will go up by 22 cents, but we don’t know off what base, and the thing about petrol prices is they are very volatile historically,” she said.
“It would be a brave person to guess what’s going to happen.”
Crude oil has come down by about 25 US cents a litre since March highs and was hovering at about 100 US cents on Monday – similar to prices between 2011 and 2014.
“It’s come down very markedly, but it is a volatile price,” Terrill said. “It may be by the time it goes back to normal it isn’t at a particularly noticeable level.”
While the surging prices have been attributed to the war in Ukraine, Terrill said they’d begun increasing as early as 1 December 2021 for a variety of reasons – including the northern hemisphere’s winter and the emergence from Covid lockdowns.
“If the government does want to give cost of living relief, the question is whether [the fuel excise] is a better way to do it or if they should introduce a targeted approach like increasing welfare payments,” she said.
“If your household is on a constrained budget, you might appreciate relief in fuel prices, but if you don’t drive you’re not getting any assistance.
“Part of the reason it was selected back in March is it’s very salient – people drive past petrol stations and see what the price is all the time. It’s a price people are conscious of.”
For farmers, cost of production pressures are likely to continue for “some time” despite shoppers’ relief.
“The price of vegetables on the shelf is not the return that growers receive at the farmgate,” Lindhe said.
“Global economic factors and supply chain issues are resulting in increased costs of critical farm inputs, including fertiliser, fuel and chemicals, as well as wages pressure due to the shortage of labour in Australia.
“Local growers and their communities … are continuing to face significant hardship.”
