Food prices were 8.3 percent higher in September 2022 compared with September 2021, Stats NZ said today. The annual increase was also 8.3 percent in August 2022, the highest since July 2009.
In September 2022, the annual increase was due to rises across all the broad food categories measured. Compared with September 2021: grocery food prices increased by 7.7 percent, fruit and vegetable prices increased by 16 percent, restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices increased by 6.9 percent, meat, poultry, and fish prices increased by 6.7 percent, and non-alcoholic beverage prices increased by 4.8 percent.
“Increasing prices for yoghurt, two-minute noodles and tomato-based pasta sauce were the largest drivers within grocery food,” said Katrina Dewbery, consumer prices manager at Stats NZ.
The second largest contributor to the annual movement was fruit and vegetables. The items within this group that influenced the increase were capsicums, tomatoes and broccoli.
Monthly food prices were 0.4 percent higher in September than in August; after adjusting for seasonal effects, they were up 0.9 percent. Fruit and vegetables fell 0.1 percent, but after seasonal adjustment, rose 3.9 percent.
“This seasonal movement for fruit and vegetables indicates that based on previous patterns, a larger fall in fruit and vegetables for the September month is more typical.”
The second largest contributor to the overall monthly movement was restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food, which rose by 0.6 percent. This was driven by rises in the price of hamburgers (1.7 percent) and takeaway pizzas (2.0 percent).
