Food Price Index: July 2016
Embargoed until 10:45am – 11 August 2016

Key facts
Monthly change
Food prices fell 0.2 percent in the July 2016 month. After seasonal adjustment, food prices fell 0.3
percent.
In July 2016 compared with June 2016:
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Fruit and vegetable prices rose 0.1 percent (down 1.1 percent after seasonal adjustment).
Meat, poultry, and fish prices rose 0.1 percent.
Grocery food prices fell 0.7 percent (down 0.8 percent after seasonal adjustment).
Non-alcoholic beverage prices fell 0.9 percent.
Restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices rose 0.2 percent.

Annual change
Food prices decreased 1.3 percent in the year to July 2016.
In July 2016 compared with July 2015:
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Fruit and vegetable prices fell 0.9 percent.
Meat, poultry, and fish prices fell 2.1 percent.
Grocery food prices fell 2.9 percent.
Non-alcoholic beverage prices fell 2.7 percent.
Restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices rose 1.9 percent.

Key average prices
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The average price for a 200g avocado was $2.29 in July 2016, down from $4.61 in June 2016.
The average price for 1kg of cheapest available mild cheddar was $7.39 in July 2016, down from
$7.68 in June 2016, and down from $9.07 in July 2015.

 Fee-d price index
change

Percent

 

 

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Ecurce: Etatistics New zealand

Fee-d price index
Annual change

Percent

?Jul?13 Nev-13 Mar-14 Jul-14 Nev-14 Mar-15 Jul?15 Nev-15 Mar-15 Jul-15
Ecurce: Etatistics New zealand

Liz MacPherson, Government Statistician
ISSN 1178-0282
11 August 2016

Commentary
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Monthly food prices fall 0.2 percent, led by falls in grocery food prices
Annual food prices decrease 1.3 percent, influenced by lower grocery food prices
Longer-term retail picture: Avocado prices down after 10-year high

Monthly food prices fall 0.2 percent, led by falls in grocery food prices
Food prices fell 0.2 percent in July 2016, following a 0.4 percent rise in June 2016. July's food
prices fell 0.3 percent after seasonal adjustment.
Grocery food prices fell 0.7 percent, reflecting lower prices for yoghurt, cheese, and butter. Meat,
poultry, and fish prices fell 0.1 percent in July 2016, influenced by a 5.9 percent fall in pork
prices, and partly offset by a 7.0 percent rise in lamb prices.

Fruit and vegetable prices rose 0.1 percent, after rising 4.2 percent in June 2016. Vegetable
prices rose 7.1 percent (up 3.7 percent after seasonal adjustment), with seasonally higher prices
for lettuce (up 27 percent), tomatoes (up 14 percent), and beans (up 74 percent).
Fruit prices fell 9.1 percent (down 9.2 percent after seasonal adjustment). Avocado prices fell 50
percent in July 2016, to their lowest level since November 2015.
Non-alcoholic beverage prices fell 0.9 percent, while restaurant meals and ready-to-eat
food rose 0.2 percent in July 2016.

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 The following graph shows the index points contribution to the food price index (FPI) of items that
rose or fell in price for each month.

4

 Annual food prices decrease 1.3 percent, influenced by lower grocery
food prices
Food prices decreased 1.3 percent in the year to July 2016. Apart from April 2016, when
prices increased 0.5 percent from a year earlier (due to dry growing conditions), annual food
prices have decreased each month since October 2015.
Grocery food prices decreased 2.9 percent in the latest year, with lower prices for:
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cheese, down 11 percent
snack foods, down 7.2 percent
fresh milk, down 3.2 percent.

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 These increases were partly offset by a 37 percent increase in the price of honey.
Non-alcoholic beverage prices decreased 2.7 percent in the latest year, reflecting lower prices
for energy drinks.
Meat, poultry, and fish prices decreased 2.1 percent. Lower prices for chicken (down 9.9
percent) were partly offset by higher prices for beef (up 4.6 percent).
Restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices increased 1.9 percent in the year ended July
2016.
Fruit and vegetable prices decreased 0.9 percent in the latest year. Fruit prices showed no
overall change from July 2015, although prices for avocados were higher and mandarin prices
were lower. Cucumber prices increased 16 percent in the year to $4.84 for a 300g cucumber, the
highest price recorded since the series began.
Vegetable prices decreased 1.4 percent for the year, influenced by lower prices for tomatoes,
kumara, and lettuce.

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 Longer-term retail picture: Avocado prices down after 10-year high
Avocado prices fell 50 percent from June 2016, to $2.29 for a 200g avocado in July.
Avocados had reached a high of $4.61 in June 2016, the highest price recorded since the series
began.

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 Milk prices rose 1.2 percent from June 2016 to $3.27 for two litres of blue top milk. This
compares with $3.37 in July 2015, $3.64 in July 2014, and $3.17 in July 2013.
Cheese prices decreased 11 percent in the year to July 2016. Cheddar cheese decreased 18
percent, and was at its lowest level since November 2007.

For more detailed data from the FPI, see the Excel tables in the 'Downloads' box.

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 Definitions
About the food price index
The food price index (FPI) measures the rate of price change of a fixed basket of food goods and
services purchased by households. The FPI aims to measure price changes of the same items
(brand and relevant details) at each outlet over time. When there is a change in the size or
quality of any of the goods or services in the basket, we make an adjustment to ensure the price
change shown in the FPI is not affected by the change in size or quality.
See Food price index review: 2014 (table 4) for a list of the representative food items monitored
in the FPI.
Food prices are also included in the consumers price index (CPI). The food group is the
only group of the CPI for which an index is prepared each month. The all groups CPI is prepared
quarterly.
Food prices in the consumers price index and food price index explains the sources and
methods used to compile food prices.

More definitions
A price index measures the change in price between time periods for a given set of goods and
services. It summarises a set of prices, collected from many outlets, for this set of goods and
services.
Grocery food specials: For items that are 'on special' or come 'off special', we use the price at
the time of collection. We often give an analysis of these items for the subgroups meat, poultry,
and fish; grocery food; and non-alcoholic beverages in the 'Commentary' and ‘Data quality’
sections of this release. To be included in this analysis, the item will have been on special last
month, this month, or in both months.
Seasonally adjusted series: Seasonal adjustment aims to eliminate the impact of regular
seasonal events (such as annual cycles in fruit and vegetable production, winter or preChristmas shopping) on time series. Seasonal patterns obscure the underlying behaviour of the
series. For more detail on the seasonally adjusted series, see the Excel tables in the 'Downloads'
box. You can also extract the seasonally adjusted series from Infoshare.
Upward/downward contributions: Items mentioned in this release are usually those that made
a large contribution to the overall movement in the FPI. An item's contribution is a combination of
its weight in the index (ie its relative importance, based on its share of household spending on
food) and the magnitude of price movement. For example, for two items recording the same
percentage rise in price, the item with the larger weight in the FPI will have a larger contribution
to the overall movement. This contribution is also referred to as points (or index points)
contribution.

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 Related links
Next release
Food Price Index: August 2016 will be released on 13 September 2016.
Subscribe to information releases, including this one, by completing the online subscription form.
The release calendar lists all information releases by date of release.

Past releases
Food Price Index has links to past releases.

Related information
Consumers price index measures price change of goods and services purchased by New
Zealand households.
Food prices in the consumers price index and food price index gives an explanation of the
sources and methods used to compile food prices.
Electronic card transactions measure the number and value of electronic card transactions with
New Zealand-based merchants.
Retail Trade Survey measures sales of a range of household and personal goods and services.

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 Data quality
Period-specific information
Reference period
We collected prices for the food price index (FPI) during the period 11–18 July 2016, with the
exception of fresh fruit and vegetable prices. Fresh fruit and vegetable prices were collected
each Friday in most urban areas, and each Thursday in remaining urban areas.

Sample size
In a typical month, we collect about 19,000 prices from 560 retail outlets.

Imputation
Due to being unavailable at the time of price collection, we impute, on average, 0.7 percent of
prices (not including seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables) in a typical month – by carrying forward
the previous month’s price.

General methodology
We have moved the data quality information to Datainfo+.
Food Price Index – DataInfo+
General methodology used to produce the food price index, and related metadata.
Official Statistics System principles and protocols for producers of Tier 1 statistics
Statistics in this release have been produced in accordance with the Official Statistics System
principles and protocols for producers of Tier 1 statistics for quality. They conform to the
Statistics NZ Methodological Standard for Reporting of Data Quality.

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 Contacts
For media enquiries contact:
Matthew Haigh
Wellington 04 931 4862
Email: info@stats.govt.nz
For technical information contact:
Daniel Hubbard
Wellington 04 931 4075
Email: info@stats.govt.nz
For general enquiries contact our Information Centre:
Phone: 0508 525 525 (toll-free in New Zealand)
+64 4 931 4600 (outside New Zealand)
Email: info@stats.govt.nz
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Subscribe to information releases, including this one, by completing the online subscription form.
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 Tables
See the following tables in the 'Downloads' box on this page. If you have problems viewing the
files, see opening files and PDFs.
1. Food price index, subgroups
2.01 Food price index, subgroups, classes, and selected sections – index numbers
2.02 Food price index, subgroups, classes, and selected sections, percentage change from
previous month
2.03 Food price index, subgroups, classes, and selected sections, percentage change from
same month of previous year
3. Weighted average retail prices of selected food items
4. Contributions to food price index and percentage changes, by subgroup, class, or
selected section
5. Distribution of national item-level index movements – from previous month
6. Food expenditure weights, by subgroup, class, or selected section
7. Regional weights, by region/pricing centre
8. Food price index, seasonally adjusted subgroups
9.01 Food price index, seasonally adjusted subgroups and classes – index numbers
Food price index, seasonally adjusted subgroups and classes, percentage change from
9.02
previous month

Access more data on Infoshare
Infoshare allows you to access time-series data and organise it in the way that best meets your
needs.
Use Infoshare
For this release, select the following categories from the Infoshare homepage:
Subject category: Economic indicators
Group: Consumers Price Index
The FPI series are listed immediately after the CPI series. Additional information includes:
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index series for the FPI and its subgroups, classes, and selected sections
the FPI for the 12 pricing centres and five broad regions
non-standard aggregations of indexes (eg fresh fruit and vegetables)
historical seasonally unadjusted index series
average prices for a selection of items in the FPI basket.

The time series can be downloaded in Excel or comma delimited format. Percentage movements
can be calculated using the following formula:
((Index number for later period minus index number for earlier period) divided by index number
for earlier period) multiplied by 100.
See more information about Infoshare.

Next release
Food Price Index: August 2016 will be released on 13 September 2016.

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