Food prices in New Zealand declined an unadjusted 0.2 percent on month in July, Statistics New Zealand said on Friday – following the 0.2 percent increase in June.
Fruit and vegetable prices fell 1.0 percent on month, while meat, poultry, and fish prices fell 0.8 percent.
Grocery food prices rose 0.2 percent, while non-alcoholic beverage prices rose 0.3 percent and restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices rose 0.2 percent.
Seasonally adjusted, food prices were flat on month.
On a yearly basis, food prices were up 3.0 percent for the second straight month.
Fruit and vegetable prices increased 8.2 percent on year, while grocery food prices increased 3.1 percent.
Restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices climbed 2.2 percent, while non-alcoholic beverage prices gained 1.6 percent and meat, poultry, and fish prices increased 1.0 percent.
Also on Friday, the latest survey from Business NZ showed that the manufacturing sector in July continued to expand in July with a Performance of Manufacturing Index score of 55.4.
That's down from the downwardly revised 56.0 in June (originally 56.2), although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
"Expansion across the five indices was very even for July, with the total difference between the lowest and highest results at only 1.2 points. Of particular note was the highest level of expansion for employment (56.4) since September 2014, along with finished stocks (also at 56.4). However, both production (56.0) and new orders (55.4) continued to slip in terms of expansion," said Catherine Beard of Business NZ.
by RTT Staff Writer
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