Annual food prices for December 2021 have out-chewed the previous year by 4.5%.
This increase on the December 2020 figures is the largest annual increase since September 2011, when annual food prices increased 4.7 percent, said Statistics NZ.
Because households spend more money on grocery foods, the 4.5% rise in this category has the greatest impact on the annual food price movement, even though restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices increased 5.1%.
Food prices index
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Part of the blame falls on the tomato prices, which nearly doubled (99%) over the past year, though this was partly offset by cheaper kiwifruit, kumara and avocados.
“The weighted average price of 1kg of tomatoes increased from $3.33 in December 2020 to $6.61 in December 2021,” said Katrina Dewbery, consumer prices manager at Statistics NZ.
Yoghurt, standard two-litre milk, and fresh eggs were also key contributors.
But meat, poulry and fish prices all rise much more modestly.
On a monthly basis, comparing December 2021 with November 2021, fruit and vegetables rose +2.6% but non-alcoholic beverages were down -1.2%, maintaining the financial challenge of avoiding sugar and making healthy choices. Year-on-year, non-alcoholic beverages (which also includes coffee and tea) rose just +1.7%.
27 Comments
I too am very surprised at the low figure....my experience is considerably higher, definitely double figures and continuing to rise....mind you they claim beef and lamb prices have declined among other claims (lmao...not where i shop) and have a heavy weighting for takeaways and restaurants.
more than half of all Russian fruit and veg is produced in household gardens and small homesteads -despite the climate- for most people in New Zealand -- growing some if not a large amount of your own produce is a possibility -- and as well as the simple economic benefits, there are a wide ranging - climate change with no food miles, better quality produce 0 less use of fertilizers - the Mental Health benefits of managing your own garden and connecting with nature - and the family benefits of having children and my case grand children helping out
time to change
I went through 5 rental properties in Christchurch and grew veggies in all of them, quite extensively when I had the space. Not doubting your story, just giving another side so that renters don't think it's not worth asking the landlord.
When I lived in flats in the UK I grew veggies on my balcony - was great for chilies and tomatoes.
I wonder if the supermarkets are annoyed at the prospective Commerce Commission measures, getting in first, making hay while they can and moving prices as high as they can to preserve high prices when the government does act. (If they act; or will they just sit around passively like they do with every other major issue?)
Hate to sound like a libertarian but since these agencies are failing miserably in pulling their weight, shutting down ComCom, along with all those other ineffective watchdog agencies (EA, etc.) should allow the fiscal power for the taxman to give GST breaks to consumers on power and groceries.
Also frightening to see the suggestion the other day that supermarkets shouldn't offer any discount prices so as to dampen possible panic buying ahead of an Omicron-fueled supply shortage. When prices go up for whatever reason, that always seems to become the new benchmark. Plus, we probably haven't seen the full effect of high fuel prices and a falling Kiwi dollar.
I heard that two of the largest corporate tomato growers didn't plant their summer crops this year due to low prices and shortages of labour to pick them. Less crop = fewer tomatoes = higher prices. May be an opportunity for the owner operator growers with small unheated glasshouses and poly tunnels to make a bit of money for a change.
The CPI will be through the roof this quarter. Food up 4.5%, petrol up 25% (from about $2.00/l in Jan 21 to about $2.50 currently) just to name a couple. OCR rising, so mortgage payments will increase significantly. It's going to be a tough year for many households.
Beware of buying meat or chicken these days with a view to keeping it in the fridge (not the freezer) until using it closer to the 'best before date'.
From my experiences over the Covid period the longer you keep it in the fridge the more chance it will 'go off' even if it's not yet reached its 'best before' date.
So I would recommend that it's best to buy meats or chicken with as long a 'best before date' as possible...say a week or so ahead but then use it that day or the next at the outside.
I have had to trudge back to either Countdown or P'N'Save half a dozen times in the last six months or so to return stuff that 'went off' well before the 'expiry date'. Even my local butcher sold me (surely knowingly) some rotten mince that was already 'off'...but feeling sorry for the small businessman in general I didn't take it back...I just never bought off him again.
With meat or chicken being NZ-grown products one would have thought the retailer could buy fresh, but obviously not so. Supermarkets are privileged in that they were allowed to stay open thru Covid, so why aren't they selling fresh?
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