Prices of food took a record plunge in the year to June, pushed by a decline in the prices of fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry and fish.

Statistics New Zealand said that the 2% drop was the biggest yearly decline in food prices since 1957 and pursued a 17% increase in the price of food for the two years to July 2009.

Fruits and vegetables tumbled 9.2%, meat, poultry and fish plunged 3.9%, while grocery food declined 1.4%.

SNZ said that it is the foremost time that the grocery food subgroup has plummeted since August 2004.

The most noteworthy drops for individual products were witnessed for lettuce 29.7% down, fresh chicken 13.5% down, whilst potato crisps plunged 10.8%.

Concurrently, the cost of purchasing a soft drink increased 4.7%, whilst fresh milk was upbeat 4.4%, during the year.

Food prices rose again in the month of June by 1.3%, subsequent to declines of 0.7% and 0.5% in May and April, respectively.

The increase was directed by a boost in the prices of vegetables that swelled 15.9% from May - as winter climate influenced growing conditions.

On the whole, the prices of fruit and vegetables rose 9.3%, motivated by a 44.8% rise in the cost price of tomatoes and lettuce (upbeat 77.3%).