Prices soar for pumpkin, kumara

Pumpkins for sale in October, when the NZ Herald first reported on the humble vege's price spike....
Pumpkins for sale in October, when the NZ Herald first reported on the humble vege's price spike. Photo: NZ Herald
Pumpkin prices are the highest they've ever been, spiking to nearly $6 a kilo.

Statistics New Zealand's food price index showed the price had increased by 176 percent in the year to November.

The price of $5.78 a kilo was the most pumpkin had costs since Stats NZ's food price series began in 1993.

In October, the Herald found pumpkin on sale for between $4.50 and $6.99 a kilo.

Kumara was another vege to reach astronomical prices at $8.99 a kilo in November - an 83 percent rise on this time last year when the root vegetable cost just $4.92 a kilo.

Fruit and vegetable prices increased by 1.2 percent year overall on year after seasonal adjustment, Stats NZ data showed.

Two extreme sets of weather - a wet start to the growing season followed by a dry spell late in the year, had combined to create the super high prices, Horticulture NZ manager John Seymour said.

"It's the same problem every time - supply and demand."

The wet start to the growing season meant planting was done later, so yield and harvesting was later too, Seymour said.

"Therefore there's just not the volume that there would usually be."

Now, we've gone from "one extreme to the other" with a dry spell slowing down pumpkin growth on the vine.

"There's a slower growth rate because there's not enough water," he said.

"Those two factors combined means there a significant shortage."

Last year saw a similar though less extreme spike in prices just before Christmas, which levelled out in January and February.

Seymour couldn't say for sure when prices would drop again, but said it would be at least a month or two.

"It's subject to the weather - if we get a break in the [dry] weather they'll come down."

Seymour said he appreciated people often wanted to eat pumpkin at Christmas, but said people should buy in season and go for cheaper alternatives.

Options for combating extreme weather in the future included building dams or reservoirs to store water, but the consenting process for doing so was harder now than it used to be, he said.

"It's never straightforward, that's why we have the problem we do."

Several fresh produce items have seen huge price spikes this year, including lettuce which reached $7 a head at some retailers earlier this year.

And it's not just fresh food.

Butter reached another record high, rising 1.3 percent in November.

The average price of the cheapest available 500g block of butter was $5.74 in November 2017, up from $5.67 in October 2017 and $3.88 in November 2016.

 

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