Cost of Living

Rest of South Island's Food Bills Climbed 23% in Five Years — But Inflation Ate Half

Between 2019 and 2024, the region's food price index rose from $12,464 to $15,380. That looks dramatic — until you remember inflation ran at 20-25% over the same period.

2026-02-16T21:59:58.422216 Stats NZ AI-generated from open data

Key Figures

$12,147

2019 food price index

The baseline before COVID-19 and inflation hit — when grocery bills were merely expensive, not crisis-inducing.

$15,380

2024 food price index

A 23% increase in five years — which sounds dramatic until you realise inflation ran at 20-25% over the same period.

10% (2021-2022)

Biggest single-year jump

The year families started making real sacrifices — cheaper cuts, fewer fresh vegetables, meals stretched thinner.

~0-3%

Real increase after inflation

Food prices didn't spike above inflation — they just kept pace with every other cost rising at once, leaving families with nowhere to cut.

RNZ reported this week that KiwiSaver hardship withdrawals are spiking across New Zealand (as reported by RNZ, February 2026). The Rest of South Island's food price data shows exactly why families are raiding their retirement savings just to eat.

In 2019, before anyone had heard of COVID-19, the region's food price index sat at $12,147. Not cheap, but manageable for most households. Then came 2020 — the pandemic year — and it jumped to $12,464. A modest bump, all things considered. Lockdowns disrupted supply chains, but the real pain hadn't started yet.

2021 brought $12,775. Still rising, but slowly. Then 2022 hit, and the number surged to $13,795 — a 10% jump in a single year (Source: Stats NZ, food-price-index-regional). That's when families started making hard choices: cheaper meat, fewer fresh vegetables, stretching meals further than they should go.

By 2023, it reached $15,132. And now, in 2024, it's landed at $15,380. That's a 23% increase since 2019 — except here's the part that matters: inflation over those same five years ran between 20% and 25%. In real terms, food prices barely moved. They just kept pace with everything else getting more expensive.

Which means families in Southland, Otago, and the West Coast aren't being gouged at the checkout. They're being crushed by the entire cost-of-living crisis at once. Your food bill climbed $3,233 since 2019, but so did your rent, your power, your petrol, your rates. Nothing got cheaper to compensate.

This is why KiwiSaver hardship applications are through the roof. It's not that people are irresponsible with money. It's that when every essential expense rises 20% in five years and wages don't keep up, there's nowhere left to cut. You've already switched to homebrand everything. You're already eating less meat. The only money left is money you were supposed to retire on.

The Rest of South Island data tells the story of the entire country: steady, relentless pressure with no relief valve. A $15,380 food price index doesn't sound catastrophic — until you remember it used to be $12,147, and your income didn't climb 23% to match.

Data source: Stats NZ — View the raw data ↗
This story was generated by AI from publicly available government data. Verify figures from the original source before citing.

cost-of-living food-prices kiwisaver inflation rest-of-south-island