Greens vow to break up supermarket duopoly, set up publicly owned 'KiwiMart'

Foodstuffs and Woolworths would be forced to sell 120 stores and two distribution centres into public ownership under the Greens' plan.RNZThe Green Party is campaigning on establishing a publicly owned supermarket chain to break up the duopoly and drive down food prices.The initiative is part of its 'Affordable Kai' policy which would cost more than $6 billion over four years.Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said successive governments had failed to lure an existing chain to New Zealand to introduce competition in the sector, which is dominated by Foodstuffs and Woolworths."That's why today we are announcing the real solution: a supermarket owned by all New Zealanders, for all New Zealanders," she said."We're not short of supermarkets, we're short of competition. As experts have noted, divestment - that is, buying already existing stores - is key to breaking up the duopoly."The publicly owned chain, KiwiMart, would be mandated to prioritise affordability.Greens co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick introduce the party's Affordable Kai policy, September 2026.Tu Natanahira / RNZFoodstuffs and Woolworths would be forced to sell 120 stores and two distribution centres into public ownership, Swarbrick said.The party said its plan would cost about $2.8b.Parliamentary Library modelling estimated it would cost $1.3b to buy the stores and distribution centres, and $1.5b to establish KiwiMart, it said.The Greens' full Affordable Kai policy also includes:restoring and permanently funding the school lunch programme Ka Ora, Ka Ako and expanding it to 150,000 more children ($2.2b)increasing food bank funding from $8 million to $25m ($72m) doubling the cap on Work and Income food grants ($388m)a $150m annual Fair Food Fund for community-led food security initiatives ($600m)increasing funding, penalties and powers for the Commerce Commission, including a mandatory pricing accuracy code with automatic compensation when shoppers are overcharged ($104m)banning supermarket price gouging and extending that to include other "uncompetitive" sectors like energy and fuela National Food Strategy, including legislating the right to adequate and nutritious food.Co-leader Marama Davidson said the policy would rebuild parts of the food system the current government had "run down".