Source: Statistics New Zealand
Error notification: Food price index (FPI) for January 2026 – news story
17 March 2026
Stats NZ has corrected the January 2026 food price index (FPI) after the discovery of an error. Food price data is published each month in the selected price indexes release.
- Stats NZ previously stated food prices were up 2.5 percent in January 2026 compared with December 2025. The correct increase was 2.1 percent.
- From 10.45am today, the corrected food price data will be available in Infoshare and in Selected price indexes: February 2026 on the Stats NZ website.
- The issue does not impact the quarterly consumers price index (CPI).
- Stats NZ apologises to our affected customers.
The Stats NZ team identified the error last week when preparing for the release of February data.
The error occurred because the January 2026 FPI calculations did not include all the supermarket scanner data for the month. Specifically, for one supermarket data provider only 18 of the 31 days were included. This was due to human error.
As a result, the previously published food price movements have been corrected.
In the 17 February 2026 publication, the monthly percentage change was 0.4 percentage points higher than it should have been. Stats NZ previously stated food prices were up 2.5 percent in January 2026 compared with December 2025. The correct increase is 2.1 percent.
