Back to 1990: Food prices rise 11.3%

It won't come as a shock to shoppers, but the latest Food Price Index released by Stats NZ on Thursday morning shows food prices continued to rise in December by 11.3% annually, coming close to a record rise of 11.4% recorded in April 1990. Grocery food prices rose 11% in December when compared with the same month in 2021, and fruit and vegetable prices rose a staggering 23% annually. “Increasing prices for cheddar cheese, barn or cage-raised eggs, and potato chips were the largest drivers within grocery food,” Stats NZ consumer prices manager James Mitchell said. The Stats NZ Food Price Index release for November saw the annual rate of food price inflation hit 10.7%. Mark Smith, senior economist at ASB Bank, said the bank hoped annual food price inflation had peaked, or was close to its peak, but the risk is that the current upward momentum in food prices takes longer to slow.