‘Strong sense of optimism’: Fuel price drop boosts confidence

Thursday, 18 June 2026

With pain at the pump looking set to ease, Wairarapa’s business leaders are cautiously optimistic.

New numbers from Stats NZ on Tuesday showed petrol and diesel prices both down from April to May; petrol by 3.8%, and diesel by 11.4%. Prices for both had increased in the 12 months to May, with petrol up 28.7% and diesel up 76.8%.

Eve Buchanan, chairperson of both Business Wairarapa and Tupu Ana Business Masterton, and owner of The Screening Room in Masterton, said people were showing “a really strong sense of optimism”.

“There are a lot of smiles on the retailers’ faces,” she said, adding retail typically was one of the last to recover from economic shocks.

“That is really heartening, because I generally use that as a gauge.”

She said challenging conditions over the past six years had made businesses resilient, and they were focused on doing what they do well.

As a caveat, Buchanan had heard the manufacturing sector was facing challenges, possibly due to a greater direct reliance on fuel costs, which could also mean it would recover faster with falling prices.

“There is no doubt there are other factors at play than the cost of fuel. We’ve got a strengthening economy, and Masterton is an agricultural service town. The town supports the rural sector, and the rural sector is booming.”

She thought locally, this had to some extent softened the blow of the high fuel costs, with the farming sector additionally being both robust and resilient.

Buchanan said the actions of the Government and the oil industry in New Zealand had strengthened overall fuel security, meaning the fuel price shock could be less impactful that it had felt when it first started.

“This has been a great wakeup call for us, and I think some changes have been made that have helped secure us against future shocks,” she said, acknowledging exposure to international oil prices would always be a risk.

Wairarapa Automobile Association president Craig Bowyer, who is also Masterton’s deputy mayor, described the price drops as “really pleasing”, particularly for diesel.

While he described the current overall outlook as fluid, he was optimistic.

“We would like to see the price drops continue.

“Here in Wairarapa we are a regional, rural based economy, with the price of diesel reflected in local cost structures. Everything is powered by diesel.

“It’s good to see prices come down. Whether or not they will come down to what they were previously would be a good question to ask.”

He said while the price of diesel had dropped considerably, petrol had not come down to the same extent, and hoped recent price increases over the past months for essentials like food would not become embedded.

“My hope is that prices track down. People are struggling,” he said.

The forestry sector, heavily dependent on diesel, was vulnerable to fuel price shocks with spokespeople previously expressing concern.

Pete Newland, southern North Island regional manager for Forest Management North Island, said while the sector faced headwinds, there was reason for optimism.

“It has eased the pressure on the trucking side of things,” he said.

However, while diesel and petrol had come back, oil prices had risen by as much as 50%.

“The oils have been a lot slower to react because they are not consumed as fast, they are maybe two months or six weeks behind.”

He said the price of other goods used by the sector, such as steel and hoses, had also risen.

“All of those have risen dramatically because of the fuel prices lifting. That’s why I said we are not quite out of the woods yet.”

Overall, he was cautiously optimistic.

“There’s a bit of light at the end of the tunnel for everybody with the prices coming back.”