Price squeeze: Why you’re paying up to $9 for fresh fruit juice

Willoughby juice bar owner Saif Kamran says some of his customers at Healthy 19 complained after he increased the price of a small cup of juice from $5.50 to $6.50 and a large cup from $7.50 to $8.50. The Devondale milk he buys from the supermarket to use in smoothies has increased from about $1.30 to $1.60 per litre.

“Everything is going up – the oranges, apples,” he said.

NSW Farmers Federation Guy Gaeta, who grows apples and cherries in Orange, says farmers are not getting extra profits for their produce.

He says the difference in cost between the apple he grows and the ones crushed for juices is imposed along the supply chain. He said a watermelon would need to be priced at more than $20 to justify the $7 to $9 cost of a glass of juice.

“Everybody is making money except the producer and the poor consumer who has to pay,” he said. “Farmers are still getting the same money on average. ”

Restaurant and Catering Association chief executive Wes Lambert said the cost of wages in the hospitality industry have risen sharply because of staff shortages.

He said Australians have been under-paying for many years because businesses had kept their prices down to avoid losing business to competitors. But most hospitality businesses had now increased their prices by 10 to 20 per cent to cover higher prices for produce through supply chains, rents and labour.

“Many hospitality businesses had not raised their prices significantly in nearly a decade with consumers conditioned to pay $4 for a coffee and $28 for a steak for most of recent memory,” he said.

“COVID is the straw that broke the camel’s back and hospitality businesses have been forced to increase their prices because the cost of doing business was more than previous prices could bear.”

While a similar amount of labour might be used in serving a $9 fruit juice and a $4 cappuccino, Mr Lambert said the wholesale cost of the milk and coffee was “almost nothing in comparison to the price of fruit”.

Paul Signorelli, managing director of the Doltone House Group of more than 30 events venues, said his costs “from paddock to plate” have gone up. He said transport costs and labour costs including those for fruit pickers and hospitality staff had pushed up prices.

“The cost of goods has gone up by at least 25 per cent,” he said. “From the farmer, to the truck driver, to the supplier, to the restaurant paying for labour, everything has gone up.

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“In my business meat, fish, fruit and vegetables have gone up because of the supply chain and availability.”

In its half-year profit announcement last week, Coles reported that inflation in the cost of red meat “was more than offset by fresh produce deflation, predominantly in fruit, due to favourable growing conditions”.

A spokesman for Woolworths said while there had been an industry-wide shelf price inflation in red meat and packaged groceries, fresh fruit and veg has been deflationary throughout this financial year.

“Favourable growing conditions in many parts of Australia have provided an abundant supply of fresh fruit and veg, which is driving lower prices across the category,” a spokesman said.

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