Food Price Index: August 2016
Embargoed until 10:45am – 13 September 2016

Key facts
Monthly change
Food prices rose 1.3 percent in the August 2016 month. After seasonal adjustment, food prices rose 1.2
percent.
In August 2016 compared with July 2016:
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Fruit and vegetable prices rose 5.8 percent (up 1.7 percent after seasonal adjustment).
Meat, poultry, and fish prices rose 0.2 percent.
Grocery food prices rose 0.7 percent (up 1.2 percent after seasonal adjustment).
Non-alcoholic beverage prices rose 1.8 percent.
Restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices rose 0.3 percent.

Annual change
Food prices increased 0.5 percent in the year to August 2016.
In August 2016 compared with August 2015:
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Fruit and vegetable prices rose 1.7 percent.
Meat, poultry, and fish prices fell 0.2 percent.
Grocery food prices fell 0.5 percent.
Non-alcoholic beverage prices showed no overall change.
Restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices rose 2.0 percent.

Key average prices
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The average price for 1kg of cabbage was $3.05 in August 2016, up from $1.94 in July 2016, and
up from $2.67 in August 2015.
The average price for 1kg of bananas was $3.51 in August 2016, up from $2.87 in July 2016,
and up from $3.02 in August 2015.

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change
Percent
Dec?1 3 Apr?14 Aug?14 Dec?14 Apr-?I 3 Au 9?1 3 Dec?1 3 
Ecurce: Etatistics New zealand
Fee-it price index
Annual change
Percent
Aug-13 Dec?1 3 Apr-14 Aug-14 Dec-14 Apr-13 Aug-13 Dec?1 3 

Liz MacPherson, Government Statistician
ISSN 1178-0282
13 September 2016

Ecurce: Etatistics New Eealand

Commentary
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Monthly food prices rise 1.3 percent, led by higher vegetable prices
Annual food prices increase 0.5 percent, influenced by higher ready-to-eat food prices
Longer-term retail picture: Bananas at highest price recorded since series began
Find data tables

Monthly food prices rise 1.3 percent, led by higher vegetable prices
Food prices rose 1.3 percent in August 2016, following a 0.2 fall percent in July 2016. August's
food prices rose 1.2 percent after seasonal adjustment.
Fruit and vegetable prices rose 5.8 percent in August 2016, following rises of 0.1 percent in July
and 4.2 percent in June. Vegetable prices rose 8.9 percent (up 2.1 percent after seasonal
adjustment), with seasonally higher prices for tomatoes (up 41 percent), lettuce (up 7.8 percent),
and cabbage (up 57 percent). Fruit prices rose 1.0 percent (up 3.2 percent after seasonal
adjustment). Banana prices rose 22 percent in August 2016, to their highest level since the
series began.

Grocery food prices rose 0.7 percent, with higher prices for snack foods, cheese, and
confectionery products partly offset by lower prices for bread. The average price of a kilo of
cheapest available mild cheddar rose from $7.39 in July to $7.99 in August.
Non-alcoholic beverage prices rose 1.8 percent, while restaurant meals and ready-to-eat
food prices rose 0.3 percent in August 2016.
Meat, poultry, and fish prices rose 0.2 percent in August 2016. Higher prices for beef and
fish were partly offset by cheaper prices for chicken.

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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 increase 0.5 percent, influenced by higher readyto-eat food prices
Food prices increased 0.5 percent in the year to August 2016. Restaurant meals and ready-toeat food prices had the largest impact, increasing 2.0 percent in the year. This
movement is consistent with previous months.
Fruit and vegetable prices increased 1.7 percent in the latest year. Vegetable prices increased
2.6 percent with higher prices for capsicums (up 28 percent), onions (up 16 percent), and
courgettes (up 42 percent). Fruit prices increased slightly, up 0.2 percent, with higher banana
prices offset by further decreases in avocado prices.
Grocery food prices decreased 0.5 percent in the year to August 2016. Decreases in the price of
fresh milk, yoghurt, and chocolate were offset by price increases for honey, cakes and biscuits,
and ice creams. Annually, the price of fresh milk has been falling since April 2015.

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 Meat, poultry, and fish prices decreased 0.2 percent in the latest year. The price of
chicken decreased 11 percent in the year to August 2016, and is now at its lowest level since
October 2007. This decrease was partly offset by an increase in beef prices, up 9.2 percent from
August 2015.
Non-alcoholic beverage prices showed no overall change from the August 2015.

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 Longer-term retail picture: Bananas at highest price recorded since
series began
Banana prices reached a series high in August 2016. Supply shortages caused the price of
bananas to spike, up 22 percent from an average price of $2.87 a kg in July to $3.51 in August
2016. The previous high price was $3.23 in March 2016.
Fresh milk prices fell 0.1 percent in August 2016, to an average price of $3.26 for two litres of
blue top milk. Fresh milk prices have fallen annually since April 2015, when they averaged
$3.63 for two litres.
Chicken prices decreased 11 percent in the year to August 2016 to their lowest level since
October 2007. This reflected lower prices for all types of chicken.

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 Find data tables
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: September 2016 will be released on 13 October 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 10–17 August 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:
Dave Lum
Wellington 04 931 4934
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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 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: September 2016 will be released on 13 October 2016.

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