Commodity prices have edged down for the third successive month due to falling dairy prices.
The ANZ Bank's monthly Commodity Price Index eased 2.2 percent in May, compared with the previous month. It's now nearly 6 percent below the record high in February.
Dairy prices, which make up nearly half of the weighting in the basket of 13 commodities, declined, as did forestry and aluminium.
That offset gains for wool, kiwifruit and apples; a fresh record high for seafood; a two-and-a-half-year high for sheepmeat and a six-year high for sawn timber.
When converted back into New Zealand dollars, returns to commodity producers fell 2.1 percent last month.
