The Infometrics-Foodstuffs New Zealand Grocery Supplier Cost Index (GSCI) has shown an average 2.9 percent increase in what suppliers charged Foodstuffs supermarkets for goods in May 2024 compared to a year earlier.
“Having eased from an annual peak of 10.6 percent in December 2022 to 4.5 percent in December 2023, the annual rise has slowed only slightly in recent months, from 3.2 percent pa in March to 2.9 percent pa in May,” said Infometrics Chief Executive and Principal Economist Brad Olsen.
“This trend reinforces our recent views that cost pressures are currently on track to level out at a slightly higher rate than before 2022.”
The Infometrics-Foodstuffs New Zealand Grocery Supplier Cost Index (GSCI), a comprehensive tool commissioned by Foodstuffs New Zealand, measures the change in the list cost of grocery goods charged by suppliers to the Foodstuffs North Island and Foodstuffs South Island co-operatives.
Every month, the Index tracks what it costs supermarkets to buy the goods to put on the shelf. This real-time view of supplier cost changes provides stakeholders with a reliable and up-to-date source of information.
Just under 2,900 items increased in cost in May 2024 from the previous month, up around 50 percent from the number of items that rose in the same month of 2021.
Around a tenth of May’s cost changes were rises of more than 20 percent, but there were also some cost declines, with nearly a fifth being monthly declines of between 0 percent and 20 percent.
“Produce costs are up just 1.0 percent per year, with lower costs for spring onions, some fruits, and some green vegetables. General grocery costs are up 3.4 percent per year, their slowest annual increase since March 2022. Chilled and frozen goods have seen a continued moderation in annual cost increases, and butchery cost growth remains at 2.0 percent per year.”
Recent data from Stats NZ shows that on-farm costs have remained at the same average for the past six months. The stabilisation in on-farm costs and lower fuel prices in recent months have been encouraging, and these factors will support the current moderation in cost increases.
“But stubborn cost pressures in the domestic economy still result in more product cost increases than a few years ago.”
