Food prices were 6.6 per cent higher in June 2022 compared with June 2021, says Stats NZ.

In June 2022, the annual increase was due to rises across all the broad food categories we measure. Compared with June 2021:

-grocery food prices increased by 7.6 per cent

-restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices increased by 6.3 per cent

-meat, poultry, and fish prices increased by 6.8 per cent

-fruit and vegetable prices increased by 5.5 per cent

-non-alcoholic beverage prices increased by 4.8 per cent.

Grocery food was the largest contributor to this movement.

'Increasing prices for milk, potato crisps, and yoghurt were the largest contributors within grocery food,” says consumer prices manager Fiona Smillie.

The second-largest contributor to this movement was restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food.

The items within this group that influenced this movement the most were eat-in lunch/brunch meals, and dinner restaurant meals.

Rising cost of vegetables influences monthly rise

Monthly food prices were 1.2 per cent higher in June 2022 compared with May 2022.

After adjusting for seasonal effects, they were up 0.8 per cent.

A 4.9 per cent increase in fruit and vegetable prices was the largest contributor to the monthly movement.

After adjusting for seasonal effects, fruit and vegetable prices were up 0.7 per cent. This indicates that most of the movement in fruit and vegetables is due to seasonal factors.

'We typically see price rises for many vegetables in winter due to seasonal effects," says Fiona.

'The vegetables that are most influencing this increase are tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans. Whilst cucumbers and green beans have both reached their highest recent June prices, tomatoes have bucked that trend and fallen 30 per cent in June 2022 compared with June 2021.”

The second-largest contributor to the monthly movement was restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food, which increased by 0.7 per cent.