KEY POINTS:
Food prices are continuing their steady upward climb, with April marking another month of price rises.
The price of food went up by 0.3 per cent in April, with yoghurt, sauce and potato chips leading the charge.
Statistics NZ says its "grocery subgroup" was the main contributor to the increase, with prices rising by 1.2 per cent in the month.
Yoghurt was up 8.8 per cent, sauces up 5.1 per cent and eggs up 7.6 per cent but chocolate lovers got some relief, as prices fell 1.5 per cent.
There may be the first signs of a stabilising in the eye-watering dairy price hikes though with a 13.4 per cent fall in the price of processed cheese slices.
Across the whole dairy category, price changes were mixed, with a 1 kg block of cheddar cheese up just 0.8 per cent. Milk was also down slightly at 0.9 per cent. Across the whole range of cheeses, prices fell by 1.2 per cent.
A Stats NZ spokesman said that up to one third of the items included in the months' figures were "on special", which had an impact on the overall numbers.
Looking back over the year to April, the cost of buying food has jumped 6 per cent, with the "grocery subgroup" up 10.7 per cent.
Dairy is where the hurt was felt most, with cheese up 45.5 per cent, milk up 21.1 per cent, bread up 13.1 per cent and butter up 86 per cent.
Fruit and vegetables are up 1 per cent for the year, with meat, poultry and fish up 2.3 per cent.
Other signs of a possible respite from skyrocketing dairy prices were seen last week with the release of the ANZ Commodity Price Index, which showed a drop in world dairy prices.
The world dairy index fell 4.9 per cent in April. It had risen for 15 consecutive months until November last year, but has been falling since then.
Despite the fall in April, world dairy prices were still up 24 per cent from the same time last year with the ANZ dairy index more than double what it was in August 2006.
-NZ HERALD STAFF
