Soaring fruit and vegetable prices are gobbling up more money. Photo / 123RF
You haven’t been imagining your grocery bill getting bigger.
Although Stats NZ today said food prices last month were flat compared to October, many products became more expensive.
Fruit and vegetable prices fell 4.7 per cent but were up 0.9 per cent after seasonal adjustment.
Meat, poultry, and fish prices rose 1.2 per cent last month, according to data released today.
And grocery food prices were up 1.1 per cent, up 0.8 per cent after seasonal adjustment.
Year-on-year, annual food prices were 10.7 per cent higher.
And fruit and vegetable prices increased 20 per cent in just one year, Stats NZ said.
That surpassed even the high annual increase in the previous data release.
A month ago, the annual food price increase reached a 14-year high of 10.1 per cent.
Monthly food prices were 0.8 per cent higher in October 2022 compared with the month before.
Meanwhile, the index for rental property prices rose slightly last month, up 0.2 per cent, Stats NZ reported today.
How has New Zealand's oldest department store outlasted its competitors? One word: family.