Food prices are rising, with fruit and vegetables up nearly 6% in the year to July.
New figures from Statistics New Zealand showed increases for the year to July 31 and the July month.
A 5.7% increase in the price of fruit and vegetables accounted for more than half the overall increase in the year to end of the last month.
The cost of restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food rose 1.9%, while non-alcoholic beverage prices rose 3.9%. Meat, poultry, and fish rose 1.5%, influenced by higher prices for beef (up 7.1%).
The combined rise in these four groups was partly offset by lower grocery food prices (down 1.5%).
In the July month, prices rose 0.6%, after a 0.5% rise in June and a 0.4% rise in May. Fruit and vegetables rose 3%, and contributed two-thirds of the overall increase.
Prices for fruit rose 2% in the month, influenced by higher prices for mandarins and grapes. After adjusting for seasonal influences, however, fruit prices rose only 0.8%.
Vegetable prices rose 3.6%, but fell 0.2% after seasonal adjustment. The rise was influenced by seasonally higher prices for lettuce.
Meat, poultry, and fish prices rose 1.3%. The biggest contribution came from chicken - up 5.2%, but still 4.5% below its peak in December 2014.
Grocery food prices fell 0.1%, led by lower prices for bread (down 1.2%) and butter (down 4.5%). Fresh milk prices were up 0.4%, but down 6.7% for the year.
