A retail expert says some products at discount department stores like Kmart could see small price hikes over the coming months.

QUT professor Gary Mortimer explained the increasing cost of shipping containers could mean consumers start to see prices rise.

“What we are just starting to see now is retailers, potentially discount retailers are coming out saying, potentially we are going to see some price hikes because of the challenges of getting products out of China,” he told Scott Emerson.

“I’m sure your listeners would have been into Kmart, and other discount department stores, last year and seeing empty shelves, because a lot of that product is coming out of China.

“So what we are now seeing is an increase cost of shipping containers, so this stuff gets packed into packed into shipping containers … and shipped to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and loaded into warehouses.

“The normal cost of a container is somewhere around $2000 USD, it’s creeping up to $5000-6000 so the prices are going up.”

He said he expected to see prices rise in the next couple of months, roughly 4-5 per cent.

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