Food prices pushed up by grocery food again

Food prices increased 0.4 percent in the January 2008 month, Statistics New Zealand said today.

The increase was mainly due to higher prices for the grocery food subgroup (up 1.3 percent).

Within the grocery food subgroup, the main contributors to the 1.3 percent increase were higher pricesfor cheddar cheese (up 14.7 percent), butter (up 14.7 percent) and boxed chocolates (up 19.6 percent).

The biggest downward subgroup contribution came from lower prices for meat, poultry and fish (down 1.3percent) in the January 2008 month.

Within this subgroup, the main contributors to the decrease were freshchicken (down 4.3 percent) and beef (down 1.4 percent).

The main upward contribution came from higherprices for ham (up 3.1 percent).For the year to January 2008, food prices rose 4.4 percent.

Four subgroups recorded upward contributions,with the most significant upward contribution coming from higher prices for the grocery food subgroup(up 8.0 percent).

This was followed by, in order of significance, restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food(up 4.1 percent), meat, poultry and fish (up 4.1 percent) and non-alcoholic beverages (up 2.8 percent).

The only downward contribution came from the fruit and vegetables subgroup (down 3.6 percent).