It's been revealed UK supermarket giant Tesco declined the Finance Minister's invitation for a meeting to discuss the issues in our grocery sector.

Nicola Willis announced a request for information last year, aiming to explore what barriers prevented a new competitor from breaking up Woolworths and Foodstuffs duopoly.

The supermarket opted not to participate in the process, alongside two other supermarket giants, Aldi and Lidl.

Grocery policy expert Ernie Newman says this news is disappointing, but not all that surprising.

"I think any international firm would need rocks in its head to come into New Zealand at the present time - the Commerce Commission and some of the experts in the field reckon they would need 120 to 150 new stores almost from day one...that's the wrong way to go."

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