Retailers are on a “knife edge” deciding when to pass on increased costs to consumers. 

Retail NZ CEO Carolyn Young told Mike Hosking that retailers had been absorbing the immediate increase in import costs. 

But domestically, 93% of freight was moved on New Zealand roads, with 98% of those trucks using diesel. 

“Businesses can no longer absorb that. We've been talking to retailers this week and they're on the knife edge as to when they pass on those costs that they've been increasing, but it's going to be pretty soon.” 

Retail spending was up 2.9% at the start of March, mainly because of a “frenzy” of fuel buying, she said. 

“Everyone was queued at the fuel stations, at the petrol stations, and that meant that consumers clearly haven't been spending elsewhere as that's consuming up a big significant chunk of their disposable income.” 

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