Cheap summer fruit and vegetables have contributed to New Zealand food prices falling for the sixth time in seven months. The food price index fell 0.6 percent in February, turning around a 2 percent increase in January, Statistics New Zealand said. On an annual basis, prices were down 0.5 percent, its fifth month in a row where prices were lower than a year earlier.
Food prices account for about 17 percent of the consumers price index, which has tracked below the Reserve Bank's target band of between 1-and-3 percent for more than a year.
The data shows fruit and vegetable prices were down 2.6 percent in February from a month earlier, and 1.4 percent lower on an annual basis.
Produce is typically cheaper through the summer months, and on a seasonally adjusted basis, Statistics NZ said food prices were up 0.2 percent.
Read the full Stats NZ January Food Price Index here.
