Flood fallout likely to hit NZ

BNZ head of research Stephen Toplis. Photo / Getty Images

The Queensland floods will almost certainly have some economic impact on New Zealand but are unlikely to create an inflation spike like that predicted for Australia, a local economist says.

"There will almost certainly be an impact - it's just a question of how much," BNZ head of research Stephen Toplis said. "We do get a certain amount of produce from the region but while the flooding is widespread there is an awful lot of Australia."

Toplis said he expected particular items like tomatoes to be affected. That could be good news for New Zealand growers able to export to Australia to fill the gap, but it may also increase the price of those goods for NZ consumers.

"If there is less competition and less supply then the capability to [increase prices] will rise," he said. "It's hard to know what the total magnitude will be and how localised it will be."

One or two items rising significantly were unlikely to have a huge impact on inflation because fruit and vegetables as a total made up only 2.4 per cent of the consumer price index, he said.

Foodstuffs general manager retail Rob Chemaly said he expected the floods and the recent heatwave in Victoria to increase demand for NZ export products such as eggplant, capsicum and tomatoes over the next three to five weeks.