India's food price inflation declines to 8.06 per cent

Food price inflation in the country declined to 8.06 per cent during the week ended 21 May 2011 from 8.55 per cent during the previous week as food prices declined after a brief spurt.

The decline, although significant, is unlikely to cause much difference for the consumer as the inflationary pressure continues to be felt across markets.

Food price inflation in the country stood at 21.15 per cent during the comparable week of the previous year.

Food articles have a weight of 14.34 in the wholesale price index (WPI) of commodities while primary articles have a weight of 20.12, non-food articles a weight of 4.26 and fuel and power group a weight of 14.91.

Build-up of inflation for the `food articles' group so far during the current financial year (beginning 1 April 2011) was 4.02 per cent against 4.87 per cent in the similar period of the previous year.

The index for the 'food articles' group declined 0.2 per cent to 186.3 (provisional) during the week ended 21 May 2011 from 186.7 (provisional) in the previous week due to lower prices of chicken (down 7 per cent), barley (down 3 per cent), fish and maize (down 2 per cent each) and arhar, urad, egg and fruits and vegetables (down 1 per cent each).  However, the prices of bajra (up 3 per cent), gram (up 2 per cent) and milk, jowar and ragi (up 1 per cent each) moved up.