Higher fruit prices have helped push up the overall cost of food.
Grapes Photo: 123RF
In the year to July, rising prices for grapes and avocados sent fruit prices jumping skywards by 7.9 percent, and overall food prices by just over 1 percent.
Restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food also rose by almost 2 percent, while soft drinks jumped by 3.9 percent.
Official figures show food prices rose by 0.6 percent last month, after a similar increase in June.
Last month, mandarin and grape prices rose further, as did those for meat, poultry and chicken.
A drought in the US has pushed world beef prices to record highs, bringing New Zealand's beef prices up by 7.1 percent.
However, the prices of bread and butter fell.
