The supermarket trade is producing a generation of millionaires, according to the annual National Business Review (NBR) Rich List.

The combined wealth of rich listers compiled by NBR tipped above $100 billion for the first time this year. To qualify for the list, individuals and families must have at least $50 million in private wealth in net asset terms, after debt is accounted for.

There were 34 newcomers on the list - many of which made their fortunes in the grocery industry.

Quintin Proctor, who owns Wairau Park Pak 'n Save on the North Shore, Auckland, came in at number 30 on the list.

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A qualified butcher, he worked in different departments at various New World supermarkets before deciding he wanted to be an owner-operator.

He's now worth an estimated $60m, NBR says.

Jason Witehira, also worth an estimated $60m, made his fortune in the supermarket trade, NBR says.

Witehira, who won the Outstanding Maori Business Leaders Award from the University of Auckland Business School in 2016, owns New World Victoria Park in the central Auckland suburb of Freemans Bay.

SUPPLIED Jason Witehira owns and operates the New World in Freemans Bay, Auckland.

Pak 'n Save owner, and former director of its parent company Foodstuffs, Glenn Cotterill is worth an estimated $65m, NBR says.

Cotterill joined Foodstuffs in 1992 when he bought New World Te Puke. He went on to buy Pak 'n Save Whakatane and another in Tauranga.

Fellow Pak 'n Save owner and rich Lister Rob Redwood also has a long history with Foodstuffs having started as a Four Square delivery boy as a teenager.

In 1987 he bought his first supermarket - the Cut Price Store in Taumarunui - followed by the purchases of New world in Hillcrest, Hamilton, Eastridge, Auckland and Glenn Innes, Auckland.

Redwood is worth an estimated $65m, NBR says.

Garry Baker and Ian Hong, the owners of New World in Wellington have an estimated combined worth of $75m, NBR says.

While not on the Rich List, retired Black Caps pace bowler Chris Martin saw the value in the grocery trade and entered the mini-market business by buying the Hokowhitu Four Square on Albert St in 2014.

PHIL CARRICK/STUFF New Zealand's richest man Graeme Hart's wealth increased by 20 per cent to $9 billion, the NBR says.

Businessman Graeme Hart maintained the top spot as New Zealand's richest person, with a net worth of $9b, up $1.5b from last year.

Hart started life as a truck driver but made his fortune with some good investments. He purchased the Government Printing Office for less than its capital value in 1990, then bought Whitcoulls Group. Both have since been sold.

Other new comers to the Rich List include basketballer Steven Adams worth an estimated $50m, Christchurch dairy farmer Doug McIntyre, worth an estimated $50m and Auckland marina owner and developer Simon Herbert, worth an estimated $70m, NBR says.

The biggest riser on the Rich List was toy makers the Mowbray family, whose net worth increased 233 per cent to an estimated $1b, NBR says.

Other big risers include Auckland property investor Ben Cook whose wealth had risen 173 per cent to an estimated $150m and Pushpay co-founder Chris Heaslip, who had a wealth increase of 114 per cent to $120m, NBR says.

Big decliners on the Rich List include former Warriors owner Eric Watson, whose wealth dropped 40 per cent to an estimated $250m, NBR says.

Watson has recently been cashing in his New Zealand assets. In September he sold Te Hihi luxury estate in Karaka, which boasts a six-bedroom villa, a polo field, a helicopter pad, a nine-hole golf course and a herd of alpacas, for $14 million.

He also sold his stake in Soul Bar and Bistro, in Auckland's Viaduct in March. And in May it was confirmed his business Cullen Investments sold the Warriors to Carlaw Heritage Trust and Autex Industries.

BurgerFuel chief executive and major shareholder Josef Roberts, who was worth an estimated $55m in 2017, is one of several millionaires who have fallen off the Rich List, after the NZX-listed burger chain lost half of its value in the past year.