Food price inflation edges up to 16.55 per cent
03 Jun 2010
The annual rate of inflation based on the wholesale price index of food articles edged up to 16.55 per cent during the week ended 22 May 2001 from 16.23 per cent during the previous week.
The increase in inflation rate was due mainly to higher prices of fish-marine (7 per cent), poultry chicken (5 per cent), barley and masur (2 per cent each) and condiments and spices, fish-inland, fruits and vegetables, bajra and jowar (1 per cent each).
Food price inflation stood at 8.48 per cent in the comparable week a year ago (week ended 23 May 2009).
The build-up of food price inflation so far during the financial year (beginning 1 April 2010) was also up at 2.50 per cent during the week under review against 2.13 per cent in the previous week, but lower than the 3.73 per cent level of the corresponding week of the previous year.
The index for the 'food articles' group rose 0.5 per cent to 295.1 (provisional) from 293.6 (provisional) in the previous week due to higher prices of fish-marine (7 per cent), poultry chicken (5 per cent), barley and masur (2 per cent each) and condiments and spices, fish-inland, fruits and vegetables, bajra and jowar (1 per cent each). However, the prices of coffee (-5 per cent) and moong and wheat (-1 per cent each) declined.
Inflation rate based on the wholesale price index of non-food articles eased further to 16.94 per cent during the week ended 22 May 2010 from 18.25 per cent during the week earlier. It was 4.13 per cent in the comparable week of the previous year.