Food index up 1.9%; fruit, veges to blame

Press, 14 February 1986, Page 2

Food index up 1.9%; fruit, veges to blame

Wellington reporter The average level of food prices rose 1.9 per cent last month but the annual rate of increase continues to decline. Fresh fruit and vegetables contributed most to the January rise, with significant increases for lettuces, tomatoes, carrots, cauliflowers, onions, apples, strawberries, and plums.

The 1.9 per cent rise in the food price index is the biggest since March last year when the index rose 2.5 per cent. Food price movements have been low in recent months, a 0.6 per cent fall in the index being re-

corded in December. The January figure brings annual food price inflation down to 11.6 per cent, compared with 15.8 per cent in the year to last September. The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Caygill, said yesterday that the annual rate was now well below the current rate of increase in wages and salaries. Mr Caygill said it was usual for fruit and vegetable prices to push up the index in the summer holiday period and noted that the rise in January, 1985, was 2.4 per cent.

National’s consumer affairs spokeswoman, Mrs Katherine O’Regan, said

the index rise also reflected price increases on eggs, and dairy and cereal products. She predicted hardship for superannuitants, single-income families and beneficiaries because of food price rises resulting from the cost pressure of the present wage round. The Democratic Party’s consumer affairs spokesman, Mr Alasdair Thompson, said that market forces and deregulation had not kept food prices down. The Government was having to open the door to cheap imports, which would push up New Zealand’s overseas deficit.