Food price inflation drops further to 10.15 per cent

Inflation rate based on the wholesale price index of food articles in the country declined for the fourth consecutive week and stood 0.15 percentage points lower at 10.15 per cent (provisional) during the week ended 13 November 2010, from 10.30 per cent (provisional) during the previous week.

Food price inflation rate stood at 15.06 per cent during the corresponding period of the previous year.

Build-up of food price inflation so far during the financial year, beginning 1 April 2010, stood at 9.36 per cent. It was 18.07 per cent in the similar period of the previous year.

With further improvement in supplies, food prices are expected to fall further to a single digit before the year-end.

The decline in the rate of inflation was due to lower prices of mutton and moong (down 4 per cent each), fish-marine, arhar and jowar (down 3 per cent each), urad (down 2 per cent) and tea and bajra (down 1 per cent each).

The index for the 'food articles' group rose 0.7 per cent to 180.1 (provisional) from 178.8 (provisional) in the previous week due to higher prices of egg (16 per cent), poultry chicken (5 per cent), maize (4 per cent), fruits and vegetables and masur (3 per cent each), barley (2 per cent) and gram and beef and buffalo meat (1 per cent each). However, the prices of mutton and moong (-4 per cent each), fish-marine, arhar and jowar (-3 per cent each), urad (-2 per cent) and tea and bajra (-1 per cent each) declined.