WELLINGTON, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand's food prices were 11.3 percent higher in December 2022 than they were in December 2021, which was the biggest annual increase in 32 years, the statistics department Stats NZ said on Thursday.
It has been the biggest annual increase since April 1990, when food prices increased by 11.4 percent, Stats NZ said.
In December 2022, the annual increase was due to rises across all the broad food categories measured, with fruit and vegetable prices increasing by 23 percent, compared with December 2021, it said.
Grocery food was the largest contributor to this movement, said Stats NZ consumer prices manager James Mitchell.
"Increasing prices for cheddar cheese, barn or cage-raised eggs, and potato chips were the largest drivers within grocery food," Mitchell said, adding the second-largest contributor to the annual movement was fruit and vegetables.
Monthly food prices rose 1.1 percent in December 2022 compared with November 2022, he said. ■