Food inflation inches higher

Inflation, which till recently was largely restricted to essential food items, appears to be slowly but surely getting transmitted to other categories as well. While inflation in the crucial Food group remains in high double digits, that in Minerals and Fuel groups suddenly jumped in the last days of January. Government data released today showed that inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), for the Primary Articles group stood at 15.75% in the week ended January 30, as against 14.56% in the preceding week. Inflation in this group stood at 8.17% during the corresponding week (Jan. 31, 2009) of the previous year. The WPI for the Primary Articles group rose by 0.1% to 285.2 in the week ended January 30 from 284.9 in the previous week.

Food inflation rose to 17.94% in the week ended January 30 from 17.56% in the previous week, the Commerce & Industry data revealed today. The index for the Food Articles group increased by 0.3% to 287.3 in the week under review. Inflation for the Non-food Articles group increased to 11.32% from 10.93% in the week ended January 23 while the same for the Minerals group shot up to 7.72% as opposed to a drop of 5.18%.

Fuel & Power inflation surged to 10.44% in the week ended January 30, as against 5.88% in the week ended January 23. Inflation for this group stood at (-)3.54% during the corresponding week (ended Jan. 31, 2009) of the previous year. The index for the Fuel & Power group rose by 1.2% to 355.4 from 351.2 in the previous week due to higher prices of non-coking coal (15%), coking coal (11%).