News that inflation is slowing down will come as a relief for many people.
Consumers hoping for lower interest rates have been reassured by figures showing falling prices for various goods and services including childcare, electricity and most of all, lamb.
The better than expected numbers from the Australian Bureau of Statistics this week also showed prices of groceries, especially vegetables in the ACT, had dropped by 3.2 per cent in December, 2023.
But this good news has not extended to some essential daily ingredients sold at multicultural grocers.
The price of red and green chillies - used in everyday South Asian and East Asian cooking - has risen from $18 to $25 per kilo at one shop.
Buying only what's needed
"Before people used to buy one kilo, half a kilo of those items. Now it's become 100 grams," Bishow Khadka said. "People are buying very less vegetables now so too much is going to waste."
He's the manager at Namaste Canberra Grocery, a wholesale shop in Belconnen, where the price of red onions has also increased from $15 to $20 per kilo.
Mr Khadka said costs had increased in the last fortnight, forcing the shop to shrink profit margins for certain vegetables including bitter gourds (from $6 to $9 a kilo) and long melons ($6 to $7.50 a kilo), to keep customers satisfied.
The grocer's most regular customers are from Bhutan, Nepal and India, followed by people from Fiji, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
"If we don't take off the profit margin, no Asian people will come to my shop," Mr Khadka said.
"They come for the vegetables then also buy rice and lentils, which help in covering our losses."
At another shop, customers who want to spend less prefer to buy 'new season' ginger (harvested earlier) for $11.99 per kilo since the price of old season ginger has doubled from $9.99 to $19.99 per kilo.
Founder and director at Fresh Field Indian Grocery in Gungahlin Rajashekar Bandaru said he noticed his customers buying minimal vegetables, and only whatever was needed for the day's curry.
"People are not buying and stocking for three for days like they used to," he said. "Cost of the Asian veggies likes okra, bitter melon and long melon have increased. But tomatoes and bananas are at a good price right now."
Mr Bandaru compared to last year's post-Christmas period to the same time year, and said people were buying less. He expected it to stay this way until Easter.
He said produce sourced from regions around Sydney or Melbourne cost less than root vegetables, and items coming from Queensland or other states.
Queensland floods affect prices
Canberra shops that source fruit and vegetables grown in Queensland, such as dragonfruit, wong bok (cabbage) and radishes, say there have been shortages due to damaging weather up north.
"The fruits that we get from the market rely on Queensland, the summer flooding there has affected it so much," James Kim from Bestore Asian Grocery, in Mitchell, said. "All the green leafy vegetables have been affected for the same reason."
He said wong bok and radish were the main vegetables in Korean cuisine. While these prices had risen, people continued buying usual amounts because they were important ingredients.
"It's because they need it. Demand is consistent, but the price has gone up," Mr Kim said.
Green vegetables like bok choy and choy sum, which are grown almost anywhere and available all year round, were cheap at Daily Market Groceries in Civic, but prices of ginger and the root vegetable taro had risen.
Grocer Theer Zhu said Korean big pears, rockmelon and honeydew melon had become very expensive at $9 each.
"People are buying just a little for the day," she said.
The ABS figures showed consumers still face big price rises for domestically produced goods and services. Prices rose 1.3 per cent in the quarter to be up 5.4 per cent from a year earlier. Housing (1.5 per cent), insurance (3.8 per cent), and tobacco (7 per cent) all helped push prices higher.
