Subtotal Staples Index · Stats NZ average prices until October 2026, then PAK'nSAVE and New World, 47% of grocery sales · Aug 2026
146.4
June 2017 = 100, Stats NZ’s base month for food prices. Until the week of 12 Oct 2026 the index follows Stats NZ’s average prices for these 17 staples at all supermarkets; from then it moves each week with our reading of every PAK’nSAVE and New World, 47% of grocery sales. Weekly readings are published Mondays from 19 Oct.
What moved since June 2017
Stats NZ average price of each staple, all supermarkets.
Use these figures
Free to use anywhere, including in news and commercial work, as long as you credit it. Licensed CC BY 4.0.
Subtotal Staples Index, Aug 2026: 146.4 (June 2017 = 100). Stats NZ average prices until October 2026, then PAK'nSAVE and New World, 47% of grocery sales. Source: Subtotal, getsubtotal.app/price-index. CC BY 4.0.
The licence covers the index, the basket costs and the charts on this page. Stats NZ figures are also CC BY 4.0: credit Stats NZ for those. Data: the Stats NZ history as JSON, every week, weekly feed.
How it’s worked out
- The index
- June 2017 = 100, Stats NZ’s base month for food prices. Before the week of 12 October 2026 it follows Stats NZ’s average prices for these 17 staples; from then on it moves week to week with our basket, joined at Stats NZ’s September 2026 figure.
- Coverage
- Every PAK’nSAVE and New World, 47% of NZ grocery sales (Commerce Commission, Annual Grocery Report 2025). Woolworths, FreshChoice and SuperValue join when their prices are available.
- Weighting
- PAK’nSAVE’s price movement counts 53% and New World’s 47%, their shares of sales. Updated each June; a change applies from the next week and is dated here.
- The basket
- 17 staples in Stats NZ’s quantities. Each is the cheapest of a set of equivalent products within 25% of the staple’s size, priced by the unit, so a smaller pack at the same price shows as a rise.
- The week
- Monday to Sunday, the mailer week. Each product’s price is the middle of its daily shelf prices, read around 3am, specials included and multibuys not. Clubcard prices are their own line.
- Week to week
- Each week is compared with the week before on the same products at the same stores, so a change of products doesn’t show as a price change.
- Missing items
- A staple a store doesn’t list that week takes its own last price, moved with the chain’s other stores. A store with more than 3 filled this way is left out that week.
- Regions
- Each region keeps the national mix of PAK’nSAVE and New World, so it isn’t just measuring which chain is there. Regions with too few stores for a steady figure are published together as Rest of North Island or Rest of South Island; the map still shows them, faded, as a rough guide.
- Citing it
- Every week keeps its own page and a line in the weekly feed. Method changes are dated here.
Subtotal Staples Index © Subtotal, CC BY 4.0. Stats NZ average prices until October 2026, then PAK’nSAVE and New World, 47% of grocery sales. Stats NZ data CC BY 4.0.