New Zealand food prices posted their biggest monthly increase in at least three years in August as produce and grocery items got more expensive. The monthly spike in produce prices was driven by seasonally higher prices for tomatoes, lettuce and cabbage, while banana prices climbed 22 percent to a record high. Grocery food prices also rose a seasonally adjusted 1.2 percent as cheese and snack foods got more expensive. On an unadjusted basis, food prices advanced 0.5 percent in August from the same month a year earlier, the biggest annual increase since April, as dearer capsicums, onions and courgettes lifted vegetable prices 2.6 percent and restaurant and ready-to-eat meal prices rose 2 percent. Consumer prices rose an annual 0.4 percent in the June quarter, the seventh quarter below the Reserve Bank's 1-to-3 percent target band.

Source: Otago Daily Times September 13, 2016 03:22 UTC