According to the latest Selected Price Indexes (SPI) from Statistics New Zealand, food prices have experienced a 1.2% increase over the past year, with a monthly rise of 0.5%. The SPI, which accounts for approximately 45% of the quarterly Consumers Price Index, highlights diverse trends within the food sector. Notably, fruit and vegetable prices have decreased by 8.3% annually, despite a slight monthly increase of 0.3% in September. This decline is attributed to significant drops in the prices of kūmara, potatoes, and onions. Nicola Growden, Stats NZ's consumer prices manager, noted, "The average price of 1kg of onions was $1.68 in September 2024. This is the cheapest recorded price since 2012."
The SPI revealed significant reductions in petrol and diesel prices, with petrol falling 3.2% monthly and 14.9% annually, and diesel prices decreasing by 5.8% from August 2024 and 21.4% from the previous year. The transport sector also saw a 0.6% decrease in domestic air transport prices, while international air transport prices saw a minor uptick of 0.4%.
Source: Interest.NZ