Statistics New Zealand says food prices have had their smallest increase since September 2018. Food prices rose 0.2% in the 12 months to May, with the lower food price inflation driven by cheaper prices for fruit, vegetable, meat, poultry, and fish. Broader food groups like restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices were up 4.8% in the last 12 months, while grocery food prices edged up 1.3% and non-alcoholic beverage prices rose 2.7% in the same period. “Of all the items in the food basket, cheaper cheese prices had the largest impact on overall food prices,” Mitchell said. Because of the weaker food prices data, Westpac economists said they had revised its CPI expectations from 0.8% in June to 0.6%.

Source: New Zealand Herald June 14, 2024 11:52 UTC