A block of 1kg Mainland Aged Tasty cheese has been selling for $21.50 at Countdown as production costs and milk prices rise. 

A Countdown spokesperson said there is currently "significant pressure" on the price of cheese. 

This is due to the "record-high" farmgate milk prices and strong international demand for New Zealand dairy. 

"We know that price is incredibly important to our customers, and we'll continue to work hard to make food as affordable as we can, but the reality is that we can't absorb all of the cost increases we are seeing right now and this is being reflected in our on-shelf pricing," a Countdown spokesperson said. 

Online shoppers can save $1.50 with Tasty cheese on sale for $20 a kg. 

Meanwhile, online shoppers can save $1.50 with Tasty cheese on sale for $20 compared to Pak'nSave's $17.89 a block. 

The average price of a kilo of cheddar cheese in 2016 was just $7.68. 

Earlier this month, Countdown announced a temporary price freeze on 500 items during winter. 

Countdown said it has identified a variety of winter staples including; tinned tomatoes, butter, cheese, sugar, flour, shaved ham and more. 

Whatever price they were on May 9 is the price they will stay at for the winter months, no matter what happens with inflation. 

Food prices were 6.4 per cent higher in April 2022 compared with April 2021. This was due to rises across all food categories. 

Grocery food was the largest contributor to this movement, mainly due to increases in the price of cheddar cheese, milk and eggs, although some individual categories rose by more.