STORY: New Zealand food prices up 0.4 pct annually
SHOOTING TIME: Sept. 12, 2024
DATELINE: Sept. 13, 2024
LENGTH: 0:01:32
LOCATION: Wellington
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of streets and markets in Wellington 

STORYLINE:

New Zealand's food prices rose 0.4 percent in the 12 months to August 2024, following a 0.6 percent increase in the 12 months to July 2024, the statistics department Stats NZ said on Thursday.
   
The annual increase in food prices was contributed by higher prices for restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food, and grocery food, which were up 3.6 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively, Stats NZ said.

It added that the price rise in restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food was due to higher prices for lunch and brunch, hamburgers, and takeaway coffees.
   
The price increase in grocery food was due to higher prices for olive oil, chocolate blocks, and butter, it said, adding that the average price of a 250-gram chocolate block has increased 20 percent since a year earlier.
   
Despite an overall increase in food prices, decreasing prices in the fruit and vegetables group had the largest contribution to food prices, down 12.2 percent in the 12 months to August 2024, driven by lower prices for kumara, potatoes, and lettuce, said Stats NZ consumer prices manager James Mitchell.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Wellington.
(XHTV)