Highest monthly food price increase in five years

Monthly food prices rose 2.7 percent in January 2022, Stats NZ said today.

This is the biggest monthly rise since January 2017, when monthly food prices rose 2.8 percent.

After removing regular seasonal impacts, food prices rose 1.1 percent. Fruit prices were up 2.7 percent, and vegetable prices were up 5.9 percent.

"Food prices often increase in January," consumer prices manager Katrina Dewbery said.

"However, prices increased by more than usual this January."

In January 2021, monthly food prices rose 1.3 percent, and in January 2020 they rose 2.1 percent, both before removing the impact of seasonality.

In January 2022, higher fruit and vegetable prices were the main contributor to the monthly rise, up 9.9 percent. There were higher prices for broccoli, lettuce, apples, strawberries, and kiwifruit. These were partly offset by lower prices for beans, grapes, and courgettes.

At a more aggregated level, there were higher prices for all food groupings in January.

• Meat, poultry, and fish prices rose 3.6 percent.
• Grocery foods prices rose 1.6 percent.
• Non-alcoholic beverages prices rose 2.3 percent.
• Restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices rose 0.3 percent.

The widespread nature of the price rises was also shown by 76 percent of all items increasing in price in January.

Annual food price increase is the highest in over a decade

Annual food prices were 5.9 percent higher in January 2022 than they were in January 2021. This is the biggest annual increase since August 2011, when annual food prices increased by 6.6 percent.

The main contributor to this increase in January 2022 was higher prices for tomatoes.

"The average price of 1kg of tomatoes was $7.29 in January 2022," Mrs Dewbery said.

"This compares with $2.94 in January 2021 and $3.35 in January 2020."

Fruit and vegetable prices were 15 percent higher in January 2022 than they were in January 2021. As well as higher prices for tomatoes, there were higher prices for broccoli and lettuce, which were partly offset by cheaper prices for kumara, kiwifruit, and avocado.