Dairy and veg prices fall at Foodstuffs stores
Shoppers paid less at the checkout for cheese, butter and ice cream at Foodstuff stores in December and many vegetables were down more than 30%.
The rises in food prices for August, while modest, mark a fifth consecutive monthly rise.
Meat, poultry and fish prices were up 1.3% in August.
This was mainly influenced by higher prices for roasting pork (up 11%), sausages (up 3.5%), lamb chops (up 5.4%) and porterhouse and sirloin steak (up 2.3%).
This was partially offset by lower prices for chicken, which were down 3.3%.
“Covid-19 restrictions had a minimal effect on price collection in August,” says Stats NZ consumer prices manager Katrina Dewbery.
Fruit and vegetable prices also increased in August, up 0.4%. This was largely due to higher prices for tomatoes (up 16%) and grapes (up 32%).
However, after adjusting for seasonal effects, fruit and vegetable prices fell by 0.2%.
“The weighted average price of both tomatoes and grapes rose sharply to $15.79 and $11.52 per kilogram, respectively,” Dewbery says.
“The prices of tomatoes previously peaked at $13.65 in August 2020, while grape prices peaked at $10.61 in November 2020,” Dewbery says.
These rises were partly offset by falling prices for broccoli (down 26%), strawberries (down 19%), capsicums (down 12%), and avocados (down 21%).
