Cheesed off! Block of supermarket cheese reaches $21

A block of 1kg tasty cheese has been selling for $21.50 at Countdown as production costs and milk prices rise.

A Countdown spokesperson explained there is "significant pressure" on the price of cheese when asked to comment on the Mainland Aged Tasty variety.

This is due to the "record-high" farmgate milk prices and strong international demand for New Zealand dairy, they said.

"We know that price is incredibly important to our customers, and we'll continue to work hard to make food as affordable as we can, but the reality is that we can't absorb all of the cost increases we are seeing right now and this is being reflected in our on-shelf pricing."

Online shoppers can save $1.50 with Tasty cheese on sale for $20 a kg.

Meanwhile, online shoppers can save $1.50 with tasty cheese on sale for $20 compared to Pak'nSave's $17.89 a block.

The average price of a kilo of cheddar cheese in 2016 was just $7.68.

Earlier this month, Countdown announced a temporary price freeze on 500 items during winter.

Countdown said it has identified a variety of winter staples including; tinned tomatoes, butter, cheese, sugar, flour, shaved ham and more.

Countdown said there is "significant pressure" on the price of cheese in New Zealand. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Whatever price they are May 9 is the price they will stay at for the winter months, no matter what happens with inflation.

Food prices were 6.4 per cent higher in April 2022 compared with April 2021. This was due to rises across all food categories.

Grocery food was the largest contributor to this movement, mainly due to increases in the price of cheddar cheese, milk and eggs, although some individual categories rose by more.