New Zealand households are bracing for another round of cost\u2011of\u2011living pressure as rising fuel prices threaten to drive food costs even higher in the months ahead. It comes on top of already\u2011steep increases across key grocery staples, with new data showing some of the sharpest annual food price rises on record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Food prices climbed 4.5 percent<\/strong> in the year to February, according to Stats NZ, with red meat leading the surge. Beef mince \u2014 long considered a budget fallback for families \u2014 recorded its largest annual increase since records began in 2006<\/strong>, jumping 23.2 percent<\/strong> to an average $24.46 per kilogram<\/strong>. That\u2019s $4.60 more<\/strong> than the same time last year. Sirloin steak rose even higher, up 21.5 percent<\/strong>, while chocolate increased 20.3 percent<\/strong>. Fruit and vegetables lifted 9.4 percent<\/strong> over the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stats NZ spokesperson Nicola Growden said the scale of the increases reflects both global and domestic pressures. Economists warn those pressures are far from easing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod said export beef prices have surged as global supply tightens, and New Zealand consumers are now feeling the flow\u2011on effects. BNZ chief economist Mike Jones noted that international meat prices are at record levels, driven largely by a severe shortage of cattle in the United States \u2014 the lowest numbers since 1951 \u2014 which is pushing global beef prices sharply upward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s particularly tough on households who relied on mince as a cheaper staple,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing double\u2011digit increases across meat, bread, vegetables \u2014 and now we\u2019re staring down big increases in petrol prices as well. These are essential categories, and many households never got much relief from the cost of living.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fuel\u2011driven inflation is expected to intensify as conflict in the Middle East disrupts global oil supply. Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan said sectors such as fishing, which rely heavily on fuel, are especially exposed. He warned that food prices are likely to rise further as higher transport and production costs ripple through supply chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few items did fall \u2014 including olive oil and potato crisps \u2014 but economists say these drops won\u2019t offset the broader trend. For many families, the squeeze is set to get worse before it gets better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New Zealand households are bracing for another round of cost\u2011of\u2011living pressure as rising fuel prices threaten to drive food costs even higher in the months ahead. It comes on top of already\u2011steep increases across key grocery staples, with new data showing some of the sharpest annual food price rises on record. Food prices climbed 4.5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[886,860,113],"coauthors":[446],"class_list":{"0":"post-11138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-cost-of-living","9":"tag-fuel","10":"tag-new-zealand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11140,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11138\/revisions\/11140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11138"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=11138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}