Food inflation inches higher; fuel inflation drops

Food inflation in India inched up marginally in the middle of January after falling for the past two weeks but inflation in the Fuel group declined, data from the Government showed. Food inflation had spiked to nearly a two-year peak in late December after rising for five consecutive weeks. The annual rate of inflation in the sensitive Food Articles space increased to 15.57% in the week ended January 15 from 15.52% in the preceding week, data released by the Union Commerce & Industry Ministry showed today. Inflation in the Food Articles space was at 20.07% in the year-ago period. Inflation in the Primary Articles group rose to 17.26% in the week under review from 17.03% in the week ended January 8. Inflation in the Primary Articles space was at 20.07% in the comparable period last year.



Inflation in the Fuel & Power group fell to 10.87% in the week ended January 15 from 11.53% in the week ended January 8, the Commerce & Industry said today. Inflation in the Fuel & Power space was at 6.08% in the week ended January 16, 2010. Inflation in the Non-Food Articles group stood at 22.48% in the week under consideration versus 23.07% in the previous week. Inflation in this group stood at 13.02% in the year-ago period. Inflation in the Minerals group surged to 19.52% in the week ended January 15 from 16.70% in the week ended January 8. It was at 35.86% in the comparable period a year earlier.

On an annual basis, onions became costlier by 111.58% in the week ended January 15, whereas on a week-on-week basis, the increase was only 4.10%. The year-on-year increase in vegetable prices was 67.07% while on a weekly basis vegetables turned cheaper by 0.19%. Fruits turned costlier by 16.40% year over year, while milk prices increased by 12.44% on an annual basis during the week under review. Egg, Meat & Fish became pricey by 13.58% compared to the year-ago period. Potato prices increased by 1.2% annually while inflation in Cereals was almost negligible year over year and that in Pulses fell by 14%. Annual inflation in Rice stood at 2.8% while wheat prices fell by 5.75%.