Eat your greens

Quarterly Food Inflation Update - December 2024
Final quarter consumer price index numbers have been released from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and they show deflationary trends from September to December for the Fruit & Vegetable, Dairy and Seafood categories. On a quarterly basis Fruit prices were down by 3.4% and Vegetable prices were 3.2% lower, pulling down the combined category by 3.3%. Milk prices were 0.6% softer and Cheese prices declined by 0.1% over the December quarter, placing the Dairy category 0.4% lower. Fish price levels were also down by 0.4%.
Eggs continue to show the largest inflationary trend with prices up by 5.4% on the quarter, meanwhile other non seafood meats (beef, lamb, pork & poultry) were up between 0.8% to 2.4% as individual item categories, and the combined Meat & Seafood category saw a 0.9% gain in prices. In the drinks aisle, Coffee & Tea was up by 1.6% and Alcohol was up 2.4%.
Annually, comparing 2023 average price levels to 2024 levels, only red meat saw price declines over the year. Lamb prices were off by 3.3% and beef was 2.7% lower. Eggs were the standout inflationary food item for 2024 with an 8.7% increase in prices on an annual basis. Despite the final quarter easing Fruit & Vegetable prices still managed to see a 4.6% increase annually on the combined indicator.