The Foodstuffs grocery co-ops reminded shoppers to be mindful of domestic weather and global commodity conditions, as some popular foods see price rises while others see price falls.
Stats NZ has reported an annual food price inflation (FPI) rate of five percent in July 2025, while Foodstuffs recorded an average year-on-year retail price increase of 3.4 percent for their comparable FPI basket of products, below Stats’ FPI for the fifth consecutive month.
Foodstuffs NZ Managing Director Chris Quin said the co-ops’ 3.4 percent YOY retail FPI rate was driven largely by beef steak and lamb legs increasing 30 percent and 35.5 percent respectively, and butter 36.5 percent all due to ongoing strong offshore demand for New Zealand exports amid global supply constraints.
“The good news is that many other proteins were cheaper in July than a year ago. Whole frozen chickens, pork leg roasts, fresh hoki fillets, cans of tuna – four items in our FPI basket that saw price falls of 3.5 to 9.5 percent.”
Quin said this year’s harsher winter was to blame for a 4.3 percent increase in the produce category.
“Winter has been with us in earnest over the last two months, inhibiting growing conditions, damaging some crops, and closing roads, particularly in the Nelson and Marlborough regions, increasing costs through additional wait times and travelling alternative routes," said Quin.
Spinach and even cabbage were in shorter supply, but July was a comparatively good month for many favourites: orange kumara, white potatoes, red capsicum, all around 15 percent cheaper than last year, and courgettes, brown onions, mandarins, parsnips and carrots down 4 to 10 percent.
“We’ve always said it’s best to shop seasonally for fruit and veg. Now, with global pressures on our meat and dairy, our more general advice is to ‘shop to the conditions’. For example, butter is still up, but olive oil prices are trending down, and margarine remains excellent value.”
Quin added the latest Annual Grocery Report acknowledged the role of GST on NZ food prices too.
“Unlike Australia, the UK, and Ireland, New Zealand applies 15 percent GST to all food. That affects any overseas comparisons, as does the cost of shipping it here and trucking it around. So, while food prices here, even with GST, are three percent over the OECD benchmark dollar average, the same data showed we’re actually three percent cheaper than the OECD median, the 13th cheapest of its 38 member countries, and cheaper than all but one of the dozen others with small populations."
He said it was also good to see the latest Grocery Report introduce the idea of a Grocery FPI rate, given Foodstuffs’ long-running comparison of FPI at our stores with Stats NZ’s national FPI, which adds in a number for restaurants and takeaways, as we’ve done to align with Stats’ methodology.
“We found Stats NZ’s national Grocery FPI rate, excluding restaurants and takeaways, was higher than ours for 19 of the past 24 months – further proof our co-ops are working hard to keep food prices low, while constantly steering shoppers towards savings and affordable options.”
More local FMCG news here
