Eye-watering new food price stats just revealed: Price of butter up nearly 50% in a year
Thursday, 17 July 2025
Food prices rose 4.6% in the 12 months to June 2025, up slightly from the 4.4% increase in May for the same period, according to Stats NZ.
The increase was mainly driven by higher costs in the general grocery, and various meat and fish categories.
Grocery food prices rose 4.7%, while meat, poultry and fish prices jumped 6.4%.
“Dairy products continue to drive the higher cost in food prices,” prices and deflators Stats NZ spokesperson Nicola Growden said.
Milk cost an average of $4.57 per two litres in June – up 14.3% on the year before. Butter surged to $8.60 per 500g, a 46.5% annual increase, while cheese climbed 30% to $13.04 per 1kg block.
“Butter prices are nearly $5 more expensive than 10 years ago, an increase of over 120%,” Growden said.
Meat prices also surged. Beef steak rose 22.3% annually and beef mince increased 15.6%.
“The average cost for 1kg of beef mince was $21.73 in June 2025, up from $18.80 a year ago,” Growden said.
The monthly food prices comparison showed a rise of 1.2% in June, following a 0.5% rise in May.
Fruit and vegetable prices were up 5%, mainly due to tomatoes, capsicum and broccoli. Boxed chocolates and eggs lifted grocery food prices by 0.8%.
Stats NZ also said Thursday rent prices had increased 2.6% in the year to June – the smallest annual increase since October 2011.
Labour blamed the increase in food prices on the Government, with Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds saying the cost of living crisis was getting worse.
“Christopher Luxon promised to make the cost of living better, instead, he’s making it worse,” Edmonds said.
“Prices on everyday groceries, like milk, cheese, and meat, are all through the roof. Butter is up nearly 50 percent from this time last year, all due to National’s failure to bring down costs.”
Edmonds said National had “abandoned” New Zealanders.
Correction: An earlier headline said the price of butter has nearly doubled in a year. This is incorrect, the price of butter has risen 46.5%. We regret the error.
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