Rising prices for potatoes, soft drinks (large bottles), capsicums, and fresh eggs saw overall food prices up 1.0 percent in April 2020, Stats NZ said today.
Potato prices rose 18 percent in April to a weighted average price of $2.51 per kilo, an all-time peak.
| 2016-04-01 | 1.83 |
|---|---|
| 2016-05-01 | 1.69 |
| 2016-06-01 | 1.72 |
| 2016-07-01 | 1.67 |
| 2016-08-01 | 1.63 |
| 2016-09-01 | 1.69 |
| 2016-10-01 | 1.77 |
| 2016-11-01 | 1.81 |
| 2016-12-01 | 2.05 |
| 2017-01-01 | 2.25 |
| 2017-02-01 | 2.07 |
| 2017-03-01 | 1.96 |
| 2017-04-01 | 1.86 |
| 2017-05-01 | 2.03 |
| 2017-06-01 | 1.96 |
| 2017-07-01 | 1.94 |
| 2017-08-01 | 2.12 |
| 2017-09-01 | 2.13 |
| 2017-10-01 | 2.02 |
| 2017-11-01 | 2.16 |
| 2017-12-01 | 2.41 |
| 2018-01-01 | 2.2 |
| 2018-02-01 | 2.08 |
| 2018-03-01 | 1.99 |
| 2018-04-01 | 1.87 |
| 2018-05-01 | 1.85 |
| 2018-06-01 | 1.8 |
| 2018-07-01 | 1.78 |
| 2018-08-01 | 1.79 |
| 2018-09-01 | 1.81 |
| 2018-10-01 | 1.78 |
| 2018-11-01 | 1.89 |
| 2018-12-01 | 2.21 |
| 2019-01-01 | 2.09 |
| 2019-02-01 | 1.95 |
| 2019-03-01 | 1.85 |
| 2019-04-01 | 1.82 |
| 2019-05-01 | 1.77 |
| 2019-06-01 | 1.77 |
| 2019-07-01 | 1.65 |
| 2019-08-01 | 1.66 |
| 2019-09-01 | 1.68 |
| 2019-10-01 | 1.81 |
| 2019-11-01 | 1.8 |
| 2019-12-01 | 2.13 |
| 2020-01-01 | 2.06 |
| 2020-02-01 | 2.09 |
| 2020-03-01 | 2.13 |
| 2020-04-01 | 2.51 |
| 2017-04-01 | 3.9 |
|---|---|
| 2017-05-01 | 3.93 |
| 2017-06-01 | 3.83 |
| 2017-07-01 | 3.76 |
| 2017-08-01 | 3.74 |
| 2017-09-01 | 3.77 |
| 2017-10-01 | 3.9 |
| 2017-11-01 | 3.89 |
| 2017-12-01 | 3.81 |
| 2018-01-01 | 3.9 |
| 2018-02-01 | 3.91 |
| 2018-03-01 | 3.9 |
| 2018-04-01 | 3.89 |
| 2018-05-01 | 3.88 |
| 2018-06-01 | 3.8 |
| 2018-07-01 | 3.86 |
| 2018-08-01 | 4 |
| 2018-09-01 | 4.14 |
| 2018-10-01 | 4.18 |
| 2018-11-01 | 4.18 |
| 2018-12-01 | 4.25 |
| 2019-01-01 | 4.19 |
| 2019-02-01 | 4.3 |
| 2019-03-01 | 4.32 |
| 2019-04-01 | 4.43 |
| 2019-05-01 | 4.51 |
| 2019-06-01 | 4.63 |
| 2019-07-01 | 4.51 |
| 2019-08-01 | 4.61 |
| 2019-09-01 | 4.44 |
| 2019-10-01 | 4.42 |
| 2019-11-01 | 4.39 |
| 2019-12-01 | 4.39 |
| 2020-01-01 | 4.48 |
| 2020-02-01 | 4.53 |
| 2020-03-01 | 4.48 |
| 2020-04-01 | 4.78 |
Food prices up in year to April
Food prices increased 4.4 percent to the year ended April 2020, the largest annual movement in over eight years. This rise was influenced by higher prices for grocery food (up 4.2 percent), meat, poultry, and fish (up 6.2 percent), and non-alcoholic beverages (up 4.7 percent).
Key movers for grocery food include:
- cheddar cheese, up 17 percent
- white bread, up 24 percent
- Camembert cheese, up 15 percent
- sweets, up 12 percent
- biscuits, cracker style, up 9 percent .
Potato prices increased 38 percent in the year, the largest contributor to the annual rise in food prices.
"Potato prices tend to only peak once in a year, around December or January, but this year we've seen a second growth in April," Mr Downes said.
Prices also increased for soft drinks (large bottles), and beef porterhouse/sirloin steak. These were partly offset by lower prices for avocados, tomatoes, and lamb leg.
See Impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on methodology for food price index April 2020 for information about changes to data collection and how missing items were substituted with other values.
