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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

New Zealand Food Price Lift In February Year, Lowest In Over 5 Years

By Simon Louisson

Dow Jones Newswires

WELLINGTON -(Dow Jones)- New Zealand food prices fell in February following a sharp rise in January, and the annual rise in prices was the lowest in over five years, Statistics New Zealand said Thursday.

It said the Food Price Index fell 1.3% on month, following a 2.1% rise in January.

The index was up 0.7% in the year to February, the lowest annual rise since a 0.4% increase for the year to April 2004, the agency said, but it added the index is 9.6% higher than two years ago.

The data was published shortly after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand published its quarterly economic forecasts which included a higher track for inflation with the Consumer Price Index projected to rise 2.3% in the year to March 2011 against the 1.8% forecast in December.

Four of five food subgroups made downward contributions to the February decrease with fruit and vegetables prices down 3.5% and meat, poultry, and fish down 2.4%.

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