The sale of lettuce has hit its lowest price in the last four years with the price for a head decreasing by 45 percent. Stats NZ revealed that the crispy morsel is currently being sold at $1.81 per head, a low price when compared to this time last year when it was being sold at $2.59.
“Prices reached an all-time high of $5.42 in July 2018 due to poor weather. But since then we’ve had two major price falls, which meant lettuce prices reached an unseasonably low level this September,” said consumer prices manager Geraldine Duoba.
According to Stats NZ, the overall price of vegetables fell by 8.7 percent this September. Comparatively meat and poultry went in the opposite direction with an increase of 2.0 percent, while food prices stayed relatively the same with ready-to-eat food up 3.5 percent and dairy up 2.2 percent.
“After the poor weather and a reduced harvest in 2017, vegetable prices have returned to more typical levels for this time of year."
