Fruit and vegetable prices squashed in October

Some winter crops slightly offset the fall in fruit and vegetable prices as they come out of season. These items include:

• apples, up 21 percent
• carrots, up 17 percent
• kiwifruit, up 19 percent
• broccoli, up 11 percent.

Overall food prices were down 0.7 percent in the month. Excluding the effects of fruit and vegetables, food prices were up about 0.1 percent.

Food prices increased 2.7 percent in the year ended October 2020, the lowest annual increase since December 2019.

Influencing this were increases for fruit and vegetables (10 percent), restaurant meals and ready-to-eat foods (3.4 percent), grocery food (0.7 percent), meat, poultry, and fish (1.0 percent) and non-alcoholic beverages, which remained relatively flat.

The annual food price movement has been increasing at a faster rate than the consumers price index (CPI) inflation over the past year, with the most recent CPI increasing 1.4 percent in the year ended September 2020. See Consumers price index: September 2020 quarter for more information.

'Factors such as an increase in minimum wage can have more of an effect on food prices than on general inflation,' Mrs Growden said.

'This is due to many staff working in food service or fruit picking industries being on or near minimum wage.'