Food prices plunge

Reuters

GREEN GOLD: In the past 12 months food prices had increased 3.3 percent.

Relevant offers

The biggest monthly drop in vegetable prices for a decade helped push food prices down 0.7 percent in September.

Statistics New Zealand said today that in the past 12 months food prices had increased 3.3 percent, which is the smallest annual rate of rise in over two years.

The September fall in food prices followed a 0.9 percent drop in August. It is the first time in four years that two consecutive monthly falls in prices have been recorded.

Rising food prices have been one of the most stubborn forms of inflation in the past couple of years. Annual food price inflation was running at 8.4 percent as recently as July after fruit and vegetable prices rocketed that month due to the very cold start to winter.

However, warm weather in August saw those rises start to reverse.

In September fruit and vegetable prices together fell 8.4 percent, mainly due to the massive 12.8 percent fall in the price of vegetables alone.

Leading the way down were a 40.7 percent drop in lettuce prices, a 25.5 percent reduction in cucumber costs and a 23.5 percent fall in capsicum prices.

Other key influences on the monthly food figures were the second consecutive fall in grocery food prices (down 0.1 percent) and a 1.8 percent rise in meat, poultry and fish prices, following falls for that sub-group in July and August.

In terms of annual movements, the 3.3 percent overall increase in prices was the smallest since the 3 percent recorded in June 2007.

The only food subgroup to record a drop in prices over the past 12 months was fruit and vegetables, with a 7.4 percent fall.

Grocery food prices rose 3.8 percent, meat, poultry and fish climbed 7.1 percent, non-alcoholic beverages gained 9.7 percent and restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food lifted 3.6 percent.

Significant annual price increases were recorded for sausages (20.2 percent), bacon (18.2 percent) and bread (11.3 percent).

The biggest annual falls in prices were for lettuce (down 37.2 percent), cheddar cheese (27.2 percent), and tomatoes (26.5 percent).

- © Fairfax NZ News