Supermarket giant Countdown has claimed credit for New Zealand’s falling food prices.

Last Friday, Statistics New Zealand announced that the Food Price Index reached its lowest levels since July 2012, dropping by 1.3 per cent in the year to December 2015, led by grocery food prices, which decreased 3 per cent over the year.

Countdown says that since October 2013, the retailer has dropped the everyday price of 3200 products and the company’s head of commercial services Stuart Barnett says a continued focus on driving down the price for groceries for Kiwi consumers is paying off.

“Over the past two years we’ve continued to deliver real savings for our customers at the checkout by dropping the prices on a large number of products. The Food Price Index results show that the work we are doing is having an impact.

“This activity is also making significant contribution towards better food affordability in New Zealand.”

Countdown also claims it is widening the gap between its price and rival New World’s.

“In December, Consumer NZ survey results showed Countdown’s price position has improved on the 2014 survey result, and that Countdown is now neck-and-neck with Pak’N’Save in a number of key regions throughout New Zealand,” the company said in a statement.

The Consumer NZ survey also showed that New World is considerably more expensive than Countdown throughout the country.

“We track a basket of 100 of the most commonly purchased items in our supermarkets and this has consistently been coming down,” Barnett said.

The basket includes meat, produce and dairy items where there can be substantial seasonal and commodity price variations.

“Since launching the Price Lockdown programme in October 2013, Countdown has delivered increasingly low prices, while maintaining our commitment to quality, convenience, and range across our network of 183 stores,” Barnett says.