New Zealand’s grocery prices may have dipped over November and December, but figures in the country’s fresh produce industry are tipping price rises over the next few weeks as a result of the flooding across Australian growing regions.
The widespread flooding in Australia’s eastern states has caused significant damage to fruit and vegetable production areas in Queensland, New South Wales and potentially Victoria.
Those lower volumes will mean less produce is exported to New Zealand, particularly in categories with a hearty cross-Tasman trade like salad greens and tomatoes normally harvested in May-June.
The Australian market could also open up to greater volumes of New Zealand produce, reported TVNZ, pushing prices up for the country’s domestic consumers.
New Zealand’s vegetable prices fell 7.9 per cent in December on the back of seasonal production, with lower prices for broccoli, tomatoes, cabbage, lettuce and capsicum, adding to a 9.9 per cent price decline in November, according to the New Zealand Herald.
But in the year to December fruit and vegetable prices in New Zealand had risen 5.5 per cent overall, against a general grocery price increase of 4.9 per cent.
Economists have tipped further price rises for food in New Zealand during 2011, tracking alongside a global trend in food price inflation.
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