New Zealand Food Prices Slip 0.6% In February

(RTTNews) - Food prices in New Zealand dipped 0.6 percent on month in February, Statistics New Zealand said on Friday.

That missed forecasts for a flat reading following the 2.0 percent increase in January.

This was influenced by falls across a range of foods, and led by seasonally lower fruit and vegetable prices.

Vegetable prices fell 2.7 percent, led by lower prices for tomatoes, onions, and celery. Fruit prices fell 2.5 percent, with lower prices for apples and grapes.

Grocery food prices fell 0.3 percent, influenced by snack foods (down 4.8 percent), cheese (down 3.9 percent), and chocolate (down 3.1 percent).

"The average price of a 150 gram bag of potato chips was $1.69, down 3.4 percent from January. Potato chip prices are at their lowest level since July 2010," consumer prices manager Matt Haigh said.

Meat, poultry, and fish prices fell 0.5 percent, driven by lower prices for chicken and processed meats. These were slightly offset by record-high prices for beef - the average price for a kilo of porterhouse steak was NZ$29.37.

On a yearly basis, food prices dipped 0.5 percent after losing 0.6 percent in the previous month.

This was influenced by a 1.9 percent decrease in grocery food prices, driven by lower prices for fresh milk (down 8.8 percent), breakfast cereals (down 8.8 percent), and snack foods (down 5.7 percent).

Fruit and vegetable prices decreased 1.4 percent, mainly due to a 5.3 percent decrease in vegetable prices. This was partially offset by a 3.3 percent increase in fruit prices.

Non-alcoholic beverage prices were 1.5 percent lower than a year ago, mainly influenced by lower prices for coffee and energy drinks. The average price for 100 grams of instant coffee decreased 9.1 percent to $5.71, compared with NZ$6.28 in February 2015.

Also on Friday, the latest survey from Business NZ showed that the manufacturing sector in New Zealand continued to expand in February, albeit at a slower pace, with a Performance of Manufacturing Index score of 56.0.

That's down from the upwardly revised 58.0 (originally 57.9), although it remains well above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In all, the index has been in expansion since October 2012.

Individually, weakness in the dairy industry was the main drag - although strength among new orders mitigated the damage.