Food prices in New Zealand climbed 0.6 percent year-on-year in October of 2018, following a 0.1 percent increase in the previous month. Higher inflation was mainly explained by the meat, poultry & fish subgroup (+2.6 percent vs +0.9 percent in September), as prices for mutton, lamb & hogget jumped 15.0 percent (vs +3.4 percent). In contrast, prices for the fruit & vegetable subgroup plunged 5.6 percent following a 7.1 percent decline in September, as prices for vegetables dropped 7.5 percent and those for fruits 2.5 percent. Meantime, inflation for the grocery food subgroup picked up (0.6 percent vs 0.2 percent), whereas prices for beverages climbed at a slower pace (1.0 percent vs 1.3 percent) and restaurant meals inflation stayed at 2.9 percent for the third month. On a monthly basis, food prices declined 0.6 percent after falling 0.1 percent. Food Inflation in New Zealand averaged 5.60 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 0.60 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 2.00 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.