Wellington, Jan 19 (IANS) A sharp drop in the price of vegetables caused a dip in prices for New Zealand consumers in the last quarter, according to figures from the government statistics agency Thursday.

The consumers price index (CPI) fell 0.3 percent for the December quarter as the country emerged from a supply shortage caused by severe floods in the Australian state of Queensland last year, Statistics New Zealand said.

“The main reason for the fall was lower vegetable prices,” Statistics New Zealand prices manager Chris Pike said in a statement.

Vegetable prices fell 25 percent in the December quarter, causing a 2.2-percent fall in overall food prices, said Xinhua.

“The larger-than-usual fall for vegetables reflects a supply shortage in the three months to September,” Pike said.

“Basically, vegetable prices were higher than normal last winter, then fell to normal levels towards the end of the year. If vegetable prices had remained constant in the December 2011 quarter, the CPI would have risen 0.1 percent.”

Vegetable prices fell strongly from their winter peak in July, which was higher than usual due to a supply shortage following the Queensland floods earlier in 2011, said the CPI commentary.

Prices for telecommunication services, furniture, kitchenware and appliances were also down, but were partly countered by rises in international air fares and petrol.

Telecommunication services were the second biggest contributor to the fall in the CPI, dropping 3.6 percent with higher data caps and lower prices for broadband plans, and lower international calling rates from landline phones.

Prices for household contents and services were down 1.5 percent.

“This reflected lower prices for furniture, kitchenware and appliances. There was more discounting in the December 2011 quarter than in the previous three months or in the final quarter of 2010,” Pike said.