Tomato prices fell 49 per cent last month, but still remain higher than a year ago. Photo / 123RF
Tomato prices fell 49 per cent last month, but still remain higher than a year ago. Photo / 123RF
Overall food prices fell by 0.6 per cent in November compared with October 2021, dragged down by a sharp fall in tomato prices, Stats NZ said today.
Tomato prices fell 49 per cent last month. But, their price was still 54 per cent higher than what it was a year ago.
"The weighted average price of 1kg of tomatoes fell from $12.04 in October 2021 to $6.16 in November 2021," consumer prices manager Katrina Dewbery said.
"This compares with $3.99 in November 2020."
Monthly fruit and vegetable prices fell 6.7 per cent in November. As well as lower tomato prices, there were lower prices for broccoli, strawberries and potatoes. These falls were partly offset by higher prices for apples, kiwifruit and carrots.
Cheaper prices for fruit and vegetables were partly offset by higher prices for grocery food (up 0.7 per cent) and non-alcoholic beverages (up 1.6 per cent).
On a seasonally adjusted basis, overall food prices rose by 0.3 per cent in November.
"The 0.3 per cent rise in prices after adjusting for seasonal effects shows that food prices fell by less than they usually do in November," Dewbery said.
At a more detailed level, fruit and vegetables and grocery food are the only two categories that are seasonally adjusted as they have identifiable seasonal patterns.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, fruit and vegetable prices fell 2.3 per cent, and grocery food prices rose 0.3 per cent.
But, annually, food prices increased 4.0 per cent in November 2021, mainly due to higher prices for grocery food (up 4.2 per cent) and restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food (up 4.6 per cent).
"November's annual movement is similar to the annual movements for the last few months. However, these price increases are higher than they were earlier in the year," Dewbery said.
Infometrics senior economist Brad Olsen said food prices have been holding at around 4 per cent above over the past few months, underscoring the sustained pressure on food prices and household budgets.
"It's reassuring to see food prices remain around these annual increase levels, and not heading higher still. But input costs for food producers continue to rise, mean that pricing stress remains.
"Food prices rose 0.3 per cent month on month (seasonally adjusted), an ongoing sign that pressure remains.
"The drop in tomato prices is welcome, although prices are still higher than what they would usually be at this time of year.
"There are a range of strong price increases over the last year, with egg and yogurt prices both up 15 per cent.
"The sustained rise in annual food prices will make Christmas more expensive this year. Stock disruptions due o supply chain issues and distribution strikes will also have limited some options on supermarket shelves in recent weeks," Olsen said.
