Higher prices for fruit, yoghurt and chicken pushed food prices overall up 0.3 percent in December, not quite cancelling out November's half a per cent fall.
Higher prices for fruit, yoghurt and chicken pushed up food prices in December. Photo: 123rf
Chicken prices rose 2.6 percent and are more than one percent higher than their previous peak in December 2013.
Fruit, including kiwifruit, apples and oranges, cost 4.2 percent more while vegetable prices dropped almost one percent.
Although yoghurt prices jumped 14 percent, the price of cheese fell 5.1 percent and butter 10 percent.
For 2014, food prices rose one percent.