New Zealand food prices fell for the sixth time in seven months, led by cheap summer fruit and vegetables.
The food price index fell 0.6 percent in February, turning around a 2 percent increase in January, Statistics New Zealand said. On an annual basis, prices were down 0.5 percent, its fifth month in a row where prices were lower than a year earlier.
Food prices account for about 17 percent of the consumers price index, which has tracked below the Reserve Bank's target band of between 1-and-3 percent for more than a year.
While cheap international oil has been depressing prices more generally, that's started feeding into firms' expectations which the central bank fears will limit broader wage and price setting and prompted an interest rate cut by governor Graeme Wheeler yesterday.
Today's data show fruit and vegetable prices were down 2.6 percent in February from a month earlier, and 1.4 percent lower on an annual basis. Produce is typically cheaper through the summer months, and on a seasonally adjusted basis, Statistics NZ said food prices were up 0.2 percent.
