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Food prices rise 0.5% in March, driven by cauliflower shortage

Food prices rose 0.5% last month.

Jonathan Underhill
Wed, 13 Apr 2016

New Zealand food prices rose in March, led by vegetables such as cauliflowers and lettuce while lamb led a decline in prices of meat, poultry and fish.

Food prices rose 0.5% last month, for a seasonally adjusted gain of 0.8%, Statistics NZ said. Prices fell 0.1% in the March year.

Fruit and vegetable prices rose 1.9% in March from February, when they dropped 2.6%. Vegetables drove the gains in the latest month, with the price of cauliflowers soaring 66% to the highest level since the series began in 1994 and lettuce was up 20%. Fruit prices fell 0.4%, led by apples, grapes, and pears, although on a seasonally adjusted basis they were up 1.3%.

"The average price of a 1.5 kilogram head of cauliflower was $8.24," last month, consumer prices manager Matt Haigh said. "A combination of dry weather and high demand has pushed up prices for a range of vegetables."

Food prices account for about 17% of the consumers price index, which has tracked below the Reserve Bank's target band of between 1-3% for more than a year. First-quarter consumer price index figures are scheduled for release next Monday, with a quarter gain projected to be just 0.1%, according to UBS, from a decline of 0.5% three months earlier.

Prices of meat, poultry and fish fell 0.2% last month, led by a 5% drop in lamb, which offset a 0.7% increase in beef to a new high, the government statistician said. The average price of a kilogram of porterhouse steak was $30.37 in March 2016, compared with $27.28/kg in the same month last year. A kilogram of mince rose to $13.87 from $12.58.

The price of milk fell. The average price of the cheapest available two litres of blue-top milk was $3.28 in March 2016, compared with $3.63 in March 2015.

Non-alcoholic drink prices rose 1.9%, with energy drink prices jumping 10%. Grocery food prices rose 0.3%, led by an 8.7% gain for confectionary, a 5.3% increase for snack foods and a 1.6% gain for bread. Restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices rose 0.1%.

The 0.1% decline in annual food prices was led by a 2.7% fall for grocery foods, with fresh milk down 9%, yoghurt down 13% and biscuits down 7.7%.

Meat, poultry, and fish prices fell 0.6% in the year, led by processed meat, lamb, and chicken while beef gained 9.1%. Fruit and vegetable prices rose 3.6% in the year, non-alcoholic beverages rose 1%, and restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices increased 1.9%.

(BusinessDesk)

Jonathan Underhill
Wed, 13 Apr 2016
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Food prices rise 0.5% in March, driven by cauliflower shortage
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