Last year saw edible oil and rice prices surge 16.3% and 12.7% on 2006 while the price of toothpaste rose 15.6%, according to the Consumer Council's annual price survey on three supermarket chains.

The council said today the average price of the 200 items surveyed rose 4.6%. Divided into 11 main categories, their prices rose 0.6% to 15%. The paper, household cleaning and laundry products category saw the smallest rise at 0.6%.

The staple food category consisting of edible oil and packaged rice scored the highest rise of 15%. The canned food category was next with a 6.1% rise in price.

A further breakdown of the items showed prices of 30 of the 37 sub-categories grew 0.3% to 16.3%.

Besides edible oil (up 16.3%), toothpaste (15.6%), and packaged rice (12.7%), the price of frozen food grew 8%, cheese 6.4%, canned meat 6.2%, canned soup 5.8% and snacks 5.6%.

Five product groups actually cost 0.9% to 3.2% less than 2006, including beer (down 3.2%) and nappies (2.3%).