July saw prices for food items in New Zealand increasing by 0.6%, mainly because of higher prices for vegetables as the growth environment was hampered due to cold weather.

Thursday saw Statistics New Zealand publishing its figures, which showed vegetable prices 12.3% higher than in July last year, but not quite at the levels seen in August
2008.

A rise by 3.1% was seen in fruit and vegetable prices during the last month, with lettuce prices up a further 41.6% after more than doubling in June.

In July, prices for two-thirds of the fresh vegetables, tracked in the food price index, hiked - with vegetable prices overall up 6.4%. A fall in fruit prices was seen by 2.3%. While the prices for tomatoes plunged 9.5%, Broccoli prices rose 14.1%.

A rise by 0.5% was seen in prices for grocery food items; while prices for prices for the meat, poultry and fish subgroup fell 0.7%, coming off a record high in June. On the other hand, a rise by 2.5% was seen in prices for cakes and biscuits in July, while prices for soft drinks and sausages hiked 1.6% and 5% respectively.