Reddit users have noticed that Australian made products are cheaper overseas than they are right here in Aussie supermarkets.
In a post made to r/Australia, Reddit user u/MrBryl shared a photograph of a 500g bag of San Remo spaghetti, made in Adelaide, on sale in Kuala Lumpur for RM5.60, or about $1.77 in Australian dollars.
Coles and Woolies both currently sell the same packets for $2.95.
In another post, user u/salmonavacado claimed that original and dark chocolate Tim Tams were more expensive in the Aussie supermarkets than in Japan. They claimed the two packets of biscuits were on sale for ¥428, or about $4.22.
Coles and Woolies currently have those same biscuits on sale for $4.50 each.
Admittedly, it’s not a huge difference, and with Japanese tax added on it would work out about the same. But people were nonetheless shocked that a biscuit made right here in Australia could cost exactly the same more than 7,000 kilometres away.
Other more expensive products pointed out by commenters include beer, lamb and Vegemite.
“My Aussie mate lives in Wisconsin, he gets his Australian lamb cutlets from his butchers for $14 a kilo,” one user wrote.
“Here in Sydney Lamb cutlets are between $45 -$50 a kilo, we get ripped off in Australia.”
As for Vegemite, a 220g tub would set you back £2.20 (or about $4.11) in British supermarkets ASDA and Tesco. At Coles that same tub, made in Port Melbourne, would cost you $5, despite not having to travel 16,000km to the shelves.
Supermarket prices have been a hot topic of conversation in recent months. Earlier today, Leader of The Nationals David Littleproud renewed his calls for a price inquiry by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). He accused the supermarkets of “gouging” prices, adding that “immediate action” was needed.
“We think there should be a price monitoring inquiry,” he said in a radio interview on 2CC this morning.
“They are cleaning you up. And then when you talk about fresh fruit, watermelons, they’re paying farmers about a dollar a kilogram, yet they’re charging over four. Let me tell you, as someone who used to pick water and rockmelons, you simply throw them in a bin and they end up at the supermarket.
“There is not a lot of on-cost to it.”
Littleproud is calling for the ACCC to investigate on top of the Price Inquiry currently before the Senate. The first Senate hearings are expected to be held early next year.
