Food prices in New Zealand increased 2.2 percent year-on-year in September of 2019, after a 2.1 percent rise in the previous month. It was the highest food inflation since April last year, as cost advanced further for restaurant meals & ready-to-eat food (3.3 percent vs 3.1 percent in August), namely takeaway food (5.8 percent); and non-alcoholic beverages (1.9 percent vs 1.2 percent). Additionally, prices of fruit & vegetable dropped less (-1 percent vs -4.6 percent). On the other hand, cost slowed for meat, poultry & fish (5.3 percent vs 8.0 percent) and grocery food (1.6 percent vs 2 percent). On a monthly basis, food prices were flat, following a 0.7 percent gain in the prior month. Food Inflation in New Zealand averaged 5.53 percent from 1961 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 25.20 percent in March of 1980 and a record low of -2 percent in June of 2010.
Food Inflation in New Zealand is expected to be 2.00 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Food Inflation in New Zealand to stand at 1.60 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the New Zealand Food Inflation is projected to trend around 1.70 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.