Food prices fall for third month in a row

The good news is food prices in New Zealand fell in November. But the bad news is they were still a whopping 6 per cent higher than a year earlier.

“The largest contribution to the annual change was grocery food, mainly driven by higher prices for fresh eggs, lollies, and peanuts,” Stats NZ consumers prices manager James Mitchell said today.

Food prices have now fallen for three consecutive months.

The fruit and vegetables group was the largest contributor to the monthly fall, driven by seasonal price drops for tomatoes, capsicums, and strawberries.

”We are seeing more food items fall in price than a year ago,” Mitchell said.

“In November 2023, 46 per cent of food items fell in price, while in November 2022, 27 per cent of items decreased.”

But the year-on-year increase was due to price rises across the five broad food categories that Stats NZ measured.

Price movements for the 12 months to November 2023, in order of their contribution to the overall movement, were: