Food prices in New Zealand increased 0.8 percent year-on-year in January of 2019, following a 1.0 percent rise in the previous month. Lower inflation was mainly driven by prices of meat, poultry & fish subgroup (1.9 percent vs 3.8 percent in December), namely poultry(-0.2 percent vs +4.7 percent) and pork (2.1 percent vs 8.4 percent). Also, cost of grocery food slowed (0.9 percent vs 1.4 percent) and prices of non-alcoholic beverages dropped further (-0.9 percent vs -0.2 percent). Meanwhile, prices of fruit & vegetables fell less (-3.7 percent vs -6.1 percent) and cost of restaurant meals rose at a faster pace (3.0 percent vs 2.9 percent). On a monthly basis, food prices went up 1.0 percent, after declining 0.2 percent in December. Food Inflation in New Zealand averaged 5.59 percent from 1961 until 2018, 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 0.20 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 1.80 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.