Grocery food and vegetable prices rise

Food prices rose 0.7 percent in the September 2010 month, Statistics New Zealand said today. Higher prices were recorded for grocery food and vegetables. Food prices fell 0.1 percent in August and rose 1.6 percent in July.

The grocery food subgroup rose 1.2 percent in September 2010. The most significant upward contributions came from snack foods (up 7.8 percent), chocolate (up 4.6 percent), and yoghurt (up 4.5 percent), which were influenced by the removal of discounting in September.

Fruit and vegetable prices rose 2.6 percent, with broccoli prices rising 49.5 percent and lettuce prices increasing 13.5 percent. "Vegetable prices were affected by unusually windy, wet, and cold September weather in different parts of the country,” Statistics New Zealand’s prices manager Chris Pike said.

The meat, poultry, and fish subgroup fell 1.0 percent in September, with fresh chicken prices decreasing 7.6 percent and lamb chop prices falling 6.3 percent.

Food prices rose 1.3 percent for the year to September 2010. This rise follows four consecutive months of annual falls in food prices.

In the year to September 2010, grocery food prices rose 2.6 percent, fruit and vegetable prices rose 6.8 percent, and restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices rose 1.5 percent. Meat, poultry, and fish prices fell 4.3 percent, while non-alcoholic beverage prices fell 1.4 percent.