Data from Stats NZ shows that tomato prices doubled in 2021, which drove the highest annual food price increase in a decade. A combination of Covid-related labor shortages and a virus affecting tomato crops combined to push the price of the salad staple up by 99 per cent in the year to December 2021.
Stats NZ consumer prices manager Katrina Dewbery: “The weighted average price of a kilogram of tomatoes increased from $3.33 in December 2020 to $6.61 in December 2021.”
The spike in tomato prices was the main contributor to a 4.5 per cent in food prices over the same period, the largest annual increase since September 2011, when prices rose by 4.7 per cent.
Source: stuff.co.nz
