A rural contractor fears he may not make it through the next six weeks of maize harvests as fuel prices continue to surge upwards due to the conflict in the Middle East.
Over the weekend, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the country's fuel stocks remain at seven weeks' worth, including stockpiles, as prices at the pump average more than $3 per litre.
Andrew Harris from Harris Contracting in Ashburton told Breakfast the pressure being felt across the farming industry was "pretty concerning".
"Within 10 days, our fuel price has gone up over $1.20 a litre. You know, a lot of the contracts are locked in at a set price, and now our fixed price has gone through the roof. It's pretty concerning."
It was costing him an extra $10-12,000 a day.
Christopher Luxon pressed on when targeted relief for fuel crisis is likely - watch on TVNZ+
He said additional surcharges added on top of their products affect the whole rural sector and "flows down to everyone".
“We're a small rural town, and, you know, you go into town and talk to anyone and they say things are looking pretty dire, you know, whatever sector they're in, because everything flows from our rural community back into Ashburton, which would be the same with a lot of small towns around New Zealand."
Asked if he would be able to make it through the six week maize harvest he was contracted for, Harris said he may not make it to the end.
“How can we reduce it? We use subcontractors. They'll come in, they'll put a surcharge on it, and it all just compounds. I don’t know what’s going to happen really," he said.
Harris said he didn’t know “how we’ll get through the next month, really, if it doesn’t change".
Asked whether it was the toughest conditions he had ever faced, Harris replied: "Yes, definitely."
“[We’ve] come out of a really hard harvest, we've had terrible weather since Christmas. It's been the worst straw harvest we've had, and now we're coming into this. It's a real kick."
PM says relief announcement coming 'soon'
Speaking to Breakfast, Christopher Luxon didn’t have exact timing for any potential financial support package. (Source: Breakfast)
Speaking to Breakfast, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon didn't provide exact details around any potential financial support package, but said rural communities would be considered.
"It will have to, because essentially diesel is the key fuel for New Zealand," Luxon said.
He said diesel used by the rural sector was one of the the three fuels that "powers up so much of our economy", the others being jet fuel and petrol.
"That's how people move goods around the country, and we're very conscious of actually monitoring diesel stocks even more so than others, because we know that's the key pacing item for the economy. So we're going to keep getting the supply in place.
"But again, we're well aware of the implications of diesel and what that means for rural New Zealand and for our economy, and those are considerations as we're working through a support package that we'll continue to think through," Luxon said.
Asked when details of that support package may be announced, Luxon said "we'll be talking very shortly, so I won't go into that, but within the next couple weeks".
"I'm not going to go into the details of it today, but there is a series of things we need to do over the next few months.
"We're very aware of people who are desperate and need support as quickly as possible, and we're working really hard to make sure that we can deliver that."
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