Retail lamb chopped
Monthly Food Inflation Update - March 2024
The quarterly update to inflation was released yesterday by the ABS and this quarterly data gives us more insights than the monthly update provided, as the ABS cover more food categories in detail. Looking at the indicator changes from the last quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of 2024 shows that the Fruit category showed the most price relief with a 3.2% fall in prices over the period. Fish and Beef were also down (reducing by 1.5% and 1.6%, respectively) to bring the combined Meat & Seafood category prices down by 0.7% over the quarter.
However, the Vegetables category is still showing a strong inflationary trend on the quarter to quarter numbers with a 6.9% increase to prices. The strong inflationary result for vegetables dragging up the combined Fruit & Vegetable indicator by 2.5%, despite the easing fruit price trend.
On an annual basis, comparing the average indicator for 2023 to the 2024 indicator highlights that only the Fruit, Beef, Lamb and Meat & Seafood categories have seen a deflationary trend favouring consumers. Lamb is leading the charge down with a solid 12.3% drop in pricing. On the flip side most other food categories saw annual price gains of between 1%-4%, with eggs the most inflationary at 4.3%.
