$60 for a tub of Marmite? Yes please. Trade Me 'black market' expodes
Off-the-charts auctions reveal scope of crisis.
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Marmite madness isn't just press hype.
Run a search for "Marmite" on Trade Me, and you'll find tubs and tubs of the black gold going for up premium prices.
Marmite has become the item of choice for a number of charity auctions, but also out-and-out sales.
Sellers looking for top prices promote that their jar is "unopened" or "sealed".
A typical auction has seen bidding on a 500g tub (complete with a rear label photo of its expiry date) reach $56 - with the auction not closing til Saturday.
Numerous 250g tubs (usually around $3, the social media mob tells NBR) are going for $25-plus.
Even motel sachets are up for grabs.
NBR was frankly too frightened to click on the "Used" tab.
As I type, there are 214 Marmite auctions on Trade Me.
That sounds like a lot. But not so much when you consider there are 4 million mouths to feed.
Sanitarium, struggling to restart production after the Christchurch quakes, originally said the brewers' yeast extract would be back on shelves by July.
But ongoing delays saw July come and go, and the beloved spread disappear from shelves. Today, Sanitarium said it would be the end of November before it returned.
If anyone wants to turn to the Australian muck (and the Trade Me action indicated few are), a small jar of Vegemite can be found in most supermarkets for around $5.
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$60 for a tub of Marmite? Yes please. Trade Me 'black market' expodes
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