Soaring vegetable prices ‘absurd’
Eating healthily has rarely been more expensive with vegetable prices rising to their highest level in almost six years in May.
A record annual hike in vegetable prices is ‘‘ridiculous’’ and ‘‘absurd’’, one restaurant owner says.
Owner of Adam Arnold, Tobias Roebuck-ward, said the restaurant in Ponsonby, Auckland spent 42 per cent of its food sales on produce last week. Typically it spent between 30 and 35 per cent.
The cost can be blamed on a 31 per cent rise in vegetable prices since May last year, Statistics New Zealand figures shows.
Statistics New Zealand consumer prices manager Matthew Haigh said the pricing was a result of wet autumn weather this year contrasting with warmer-than-usual weather and cheap prices last year.
Statistics NZ said the average price of a 500 gram lettuce was $5.28 in May, compared with $2.12 in May last year, and tomatoes and broccoli were also expensive.
High seasonal prices for at least some vegetables appear to be persisting into June.
Avocados were selling for $7.49 each at Fruitworld in Auckland on Tuesday, and $6.50 online at Countdown.
Overall, grocery prices rose 1.7 per cent in the year to May, with 500g blocks of butter costing a record $4.80, compared with $3.73 the year prior.
Monthly food prices up were up 2.4 per cent in May, led by higher vegetable prices. In seasonally-adjusted terms – taking into account the time of year – food prices were up 1.6 per cent.
One bright spot was a 3.1 per cent fall in the average price of fruit, helped by lower prices for mandarins and kiwifruit.