This article looks at the price of fresh fish sold by supermarkets and fish shops, using information collected from nearly 100 retail outlets in the 15 urban areas surveyed for the consumers price index (CPI).
Salmon, tarakihi, and gurnard are the most commonly available species being tracked for the CPI. There are some species, however, that are widely available in only some regions. Snapper, for example, is widely available in all urban areas except in pricing centres south of Nelson (ie Christchurch, Timaru, Dunedin, and Invercargill). In these four urban areas, sole is widely available. Sole (a flatfish species found around New Zealand but more common in the south) hardly registers in the North Island. Blue cod is not commonly available in the upper half of the North Island.
While availability of the most commonly available species is reasonably steady throughout the year, there are exceptions. For example, hoki is widely available in June quarters, but less so at other times of the year.
Table 1 shows average fish prices from 2005 to 2009 for 12 commonly available species. In 2009, prices for hoki ($13.72/kg), red cod ($15.85/kg), and trevally ($17.12/kg) would have caught the eyes of budget-conscious shoppers. At the other end of the scale, prices for snapper ($37.40/kg in 2009) and blue cod ($34.36/kg) prices were highest.
Table 1
| Species |
Price of Fresh Fish Species
Average price by species, 2005–09 |
| 2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
| Price ($/kg) |
| Tarakihi |
19.20 |
20.78 |
22.77 |
25.43 |
26.67 |
| Gurnard |
18.41 |
20.15 |
21.93 |
24.32 |
26.42 |
| Snapper |
28.73 |
30.43 |
33.67 |
35.16 |
37.40 |
| Sole (flats) |
20.71 |
20.73 |
21.59 |
23.25 |
22.92 |
| Salmon fillets |
23.92 |
25.77 |
26.88 |
27.80 |
28.45 |
| Red cod |
13.23 |
13.48 |
13.80 |
15.08 |
15.85 |
| Salmon steaks |
23.54 |
24.56 |
23.99 |
25.72 |
24.96 |
| Lemon fish (rig) |
18.07 |
18.25 |
19.91 |
20.23 |
22.30 |
| Monk fish (stargazer) |
18.22 |
18.66 |
19.32 |
20.69 |
21.81 |
| Blue cod |
26.78 |
25.24 |
29.22 |
33.01 |
34.36 |
| Trevally |
15.05 |
14.82 |
16.12 |
16.48 |
17.12 |
| Hoki |
11.59 |
11.75 |
11.56 |
13.29 |
13.72 |
Prices for the three most commonly available species, salmon fillets, tarakihi, and gurnard, were $28.45, $26.67, and $26.42 per kilogram, respectively. By comparison, beef porterhouse/sirloin steak prices were $3 to $5 lower, averaging $23.44 per kilogram in 2009.
Over the past two years, fresh fish prices have increased by 14.3 percent overall (when comparing 2009 with 2007). By comparison, beef and veal prices rose 13.4 percent, chicken prices rose 13.5 percent, and lamb prices rose 24.4 percent. Of the three most commonly available fish species, tarakihi and gurnard prices rose 17.1 percent and 20.5 percent, respectively, while salmon (a farmed fish) rose much less in price – fillets were up 5.8 percent and steaks were up 4.0 percent.
Average prices of the 12 species shown in table 1 have been broken down into five broad regions and are shown in table 2, ‘Consumers price index, weighted average retail prices of selected fresh fish species’ which can be downloaded in Excel format in the ‘Available files’ section of this article.
Back to Price Index News