Embargoed until 10:45am – 16 July 2009

Vegetable prices increase over winter

Food prices increased 2.8 percent in the June 2009 month, Statistics New Zealand said today. Higher prices for vegetables accounted for about two-thirds of the increase, with cold weather hampering growing conditions. While vegetable prices are higher than in June last year, they are still below the levels seen in August 2008.

In the June 2009 month, the fruit and vegetables subgroup rose 15.0 percent, largely driven by lettuce prices more than doubling, and tomato prices rising by two-thirds. Both lettuce and tomato prices are now in line with historical levels for winter months, following lower prices in April and May 2009.

Prices increased for the grocery food subgroup (up 1.1 percent). The most significant upward contributions came from higher prices for snack foods (up 5.0 percent) and chocolate (up 5.3 percent). The increase for chocolate was influenced by a decrease in the size of some chocolate blocks. The meat, poultry and fish subgroup rose 2.1 percent.

For the year to June 2009, food prices rose 8.4 percent, with all five subgroups recording increases: grocery food (up 7.9 percent), meat, poultry and fish (up 12.1 percent), fruit and vegetables (up 12.7 percent), restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food (up 4.3 percent), and non-alcoholic beverages (up 7.3 percent).

Within these subgroups, the most significant upward contributions came from higher prices for bread (up 14.5 percent), prepared meats and smallgoods (up 18.9 percent), and ready-to-eat food (up 4.4 percent). The most significant downward contributions came from lower prices for cheddar cheese (down 16.4 percent) and butter (down 19.9 percent).

Geoff Bascand
Government Statistician
16 July 2009

ENDS

See also the Hot Off The Press information release Food Price Index: June 2009 [PDF].

fpiJune2009alltables.xls