Wellington, Jun 14 (IANS): New Zealand's food prices were 12.1 per cent higher in May than they were in the same month last year, according to the statistics department Stats NZ on Wednesday.

Last month, the annual increase was due to rises across all the broad food categories Stats NZ measures, reports Xinhua news agency.

Compared with May 2022, grocery food prices increased 12.7 per cent, fruit and vegetables prices jumped 18.4 per cent, and meat, poultry and fish prices gained 11.7 per cent, Stats NZ said.

"Increasing prices for fresh eggs, potato chips and lollies were the largest drivers within grocery food," consumer prices manager James Mitchell said.

The second-largest contributor to the annual movement was fruit and vegetables.

The increase was driven by avocados, kumara, potatoes and tomatoes, Mitchell said.

Monthly food prices rose 0.3 per cent in May compared with April, statistics show.

Prices for non-alcoholic beverages such as soft drinks, energy drinks, and bottled water rose 4.5 per cent in May, contributing the most to the overall monthly gain, Mitchell said.

"Decreasing prices for fruit and vegetables such as tomatoes, mandarins and kiwifruit mostly offset the non-alcoholic beverages movement," he said.