Independent Riverina green grocers say diesel price hikes have added to fruit and veg costs already impacted by poor weather events.
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Wagga Fruit Supply owner Steve Papasidero said delivery and farming costs had increased.
"The cost of our delivery van and the cost of our fuel has gone up," Mr Papasidero said.
"Farms have rising costs and fuel is one of them, so their prices go up as well."
"I've never seen this in my life and I've been working here for twenty years," he added.
It's a sentiment echoed by fellow green grocer Mark Macedone who owns Broome's Fruit and Vegetable in Griffith.
Mr Macedone said the current inflation was not to be ignored.
"It has a serious impact on every business when you've got rising fuel costs in that magnitude," he said.
"With all these overheads being so astronomical, and now the rising fuel costs being over $2.50 a litre, that's a lot of whack.
"Anybody that reckons we're not paying more and we're just putting the prices up ourselves need to sit back and think again.
"We are paying more for the product, because there is a scarcity of product. The product is scarce because the main growing area in Queensland was knocked out twice."
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Mr Macedone said the current fruit and veg price hike wasn't just the result of recent fuel or weather impacts, but had been gradually worsening for years.
"It started from COVID and a shortage of staff and pickers," he explained. "Then you've got the rising fuel costs and the rising transport costs and now we're on this rollercoaster."
However, Mr Papasidero said his business still experienced some positives from the inflation including more people ignoring supermarket prices and choosing to support small businesses instead.
"We've got a lot of new customers shopping around for the cheapest prices which is good for us," Mr Papasidero said.
"It pays to go somewhere like ourselves that deals with local suppliers. Our prices are a lot cheaper."
Mr Macedone said Broome's also had new customers coming through its doors.
"That situation was inevitable, the supermarkets have just slipped," he said.
Despite the independent green grocers staying afloat amid inflation, both Mr Papasidero and Mr Macedone said there was still a lot of uncertainty about the future.
"I think it will get worse before it gets better," Mr Macedone said.
"It normally levels out. We're hoping that when production kicks off in Queensland then hopefully things return to some normality," Mr Papasidero said.
"I'm consistently asking but the Queensland growers keep saying 'two or three weeks, two or three weeks...'"
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