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Dear Customers
You may already have received similar messages from other suppliers in recent weeks, but in the interest of transparency I want to explain the pressures currently affecting our business and the changes that will follow. Some of the points below may not affect your business directly, but I would appreciate you taking a few moments to read this update.
Importing has become increasingly challenging over the past few years, and the situation has intensified recently. In fact, 2025 was the most difficult year I have experienced in this industry, and unfortunately many of those pressures are continuing into 2026.
The main challenges we are facing include:
· Raw material price fluctuations
While price movements are nothing new, the scale and frequency of changes in recent years have made forecasting extremely difficult.
· Extended lead times
Where shipments from Europe previously took around 6–9 weeks, they now regularly take 12–16 weeks. It is also increasingly common to receive multiple delay notifications on a single container, and some suppliers are taking significantly longer to prepare orders. For example, we placed an order with Rummo in late November. By mid-February—after the order had already been prepaid—Rummo advised us that much of the order was unavailable and requested that we cancel it and start again. As a result, the container has still not left Europe as of mid-March.
· Minimum order quantities (MOQs)
Many suppliers now require significantly larger orders, particularly when labels must be modified to comply with New Zealand import regulations.
· Local cost increases
Costs have risen across nearly every stage of the supply chain involved in landing containers in New Zealand, including MPI fees, freight handling, and local transport.
We have worked hard to absorb as much of these increases as possible by placing larger orders to avoid consolidation costs and ordering earlier to allow for delays. However, this approach places significant pressure on cashflow.
For the financial stability of the business, we are therefore introducing a 3% price increase across our entire range, effective immediately.
In addition, customers who receive freight-included pricing will be on-charged the freight surcharge currently applied by transport companies. This surcharge will remain in place for the duration of the current conflict and until freight pricing stabilises.
I will continue to focus on delivering strong value through careful product selection and strategic purchasing. I am confident that our range continues to offer an excellent balance of quality and price, so I encourage customers to reflect these unavoidable cost changes in their own pricing where necessary.
Thank you for your continued support.
