Kiwis feeling the pinch at the supermarket checkout has been a consistent reminder of the cost-of-living crisis, but new data from Stats NZ gives hope that we are through the worst of it.
While food prices are still around six percent higher than they were in November 2022, they fell 0.2 percent from October to November 2023.
This is also the fifth month in a row that the annual increase has lowered from a high of 12.5 percent in April and June 2023.
"The largest contribution to the annual change was grocery food, mainly driven by higher prices for fresh eggs, lollies, and peanuts," consumers prices manager James Mitchell said.
The annual increase in November was due to prices rising across five broad categories that Stats NZ measures.
- grocery food prices increased 7.0 percent
- restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices increased 7.5 percent
- fruit and vegetable prices increased 4.8 percent
- non-alcoholic beverage prices increased 5.8 percent
- meat, poultry, and fish prices increased 2.0 percent
These were averaged out to 6 percent based on their overall contribution to the change in price.
"Getting a meal from a restaurant or café and grabbing a takeaway has continued to get more expensive," Mitchell said.
Fruit and vegetable prices were the largest contributors to the monthly fall, driven by seasonal availability increasing for products like tomatoes, capsicums, and strawberries.
"We are seeing more food items fall in price than a year ago," Mitchell said. "In November 2023, 46 percent of food items fell in price, while in November 2022, 27 percent of items decreased."
