Food prices in February increased by 0.2% from January, and were up 8.8% from February last year, figures released by Statistics New Zealand (Stats NZ) show. This was after a 0.8% monthly growth in January and 9.5% in the January year. Year on year food price inflation had been running at over 9% since August 2008.

The latest figures come after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand announced it thought inflation would drop under 1% by the September quarter of 2009 before rising to the middle of its 1%-3% target band over the next few years.

The 'fruit and vegetable' group was the only group to record a decrease in prices since January, down 2.6%, Stats NZ said. However, prices were still up 12.1% from February last year.

The 'grocery food' group rose 0.3% from January and 9.1% from February 2008, and the 'non-alcoholic beverages' group rose by 1.7% over the month and 6.2% over the year. The 'restaurant meals and ready-to-eat' group experienced price increases of 0.5% and 6.1%.

The yearly price growth of all food categories in February was down from January, except for the 'restaurant meals and ready-to-eat' group which was up from 6%.

The biggest single increase from January was in yoghurt prices, up 3.6%, with the biggest decrease being in pastry-cook products, down 4.4%. From February 2008, the biggest increase was 23.9% in 'other cereal products' (doesn't include breakfast cereals). The smallest increase was 0.9% in fresh milk prices.