Food Prices Soar

Food prices rose at their fastest annual pace in more than six years as increasingly expensive vegetables were made more scarce by wet weather in autumn.

The food price index climbed an annual 3.1% in the year ended May 31, the biggest annual increase since September 2011 when prices were artificially boosted by the hike in GST to 15%, Statistics New Zealand said today.

Food prices rose a seasonally adjusted 1.6% in May, the biggest monthly increase in at least three years as vegetable prices jumped 11% in the month.

"Our wet autumn has pushed vegetable prices to their highest level in almost six years in May, with the largest annual increase to vegetables on record," consumer prices manager Matthew Haigh said in a statement.

"The increase was more pronounced because warmer than usual weather in the 2016 growing season resulted in cheaper than usual vegetable prices in May last year."

The food price index accounts for about 19% of the consumers price index, which is the Reserve Bank's mandated inflation target when setting interest rates.

Annual inflation rose to 2.2% in the first three months of the year, well above the central bank's forecast of 1.5%, however Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler looked through that jump in case it was only temporary when keeping the official cash rate unchanged at 1.75% last month.

Today's figures show vegetable prices jumped 31% in May from the same month a year earlier, with broccoli and kumara prices more than doubling, lettuce prices up 76%, and tomatoes rising 34%.

Statistics NZ said the annual increase in vegetable prices was the biggest since the series began. Over the same period, fruit prices fell 5.7%.

Meat, poultry and fish prices rose 2.3% in May, for an annual increase of 0.6%, while grocery food prices were up 1.9% in the month and 1.7% in the year.

Non-alcoholic beverage prices rose 1% in May from April, but were 1% lower than a year earlier, and restaurant and ready-to-eat meals increased 0.3% in the month for an annual gain of 2.1%.