SME Times News Bureau | 27 Jan, 2012

Overall food prices fell for the fourth straight week year-on-year, led by a drop in the prices of vegetables, especially onions and potatoes, official data showed Friday.

Annual food inflation slipped to -1.03 percent for the week ended Jan 14 as compared to -0.42 percent and -2.9 percent consecutively in the previous two weeks.

Food inflation had dipped into the negative for the week ended Dec 24, for the first time in six years, giving relief to common people and policymakers.

According to official data released by the commerce ministry, vegetables became cheaper by 47.06 percent year-on-year and onion prices dipped by 79.10 percent for the week under review. Potato prices also went down by 22.46 percent.

Wheat price was lower by 3.37 percent year-on-year during the week under review.

Protein-rich food items became more expensive on a year-on-year basis with pulses becoming dearer by 12.77 percent, milk pices by 12.25 percent, and eggs, meat and fish prices going up by 20.33 percent.

However, inflation in overall primary articles, which has a 20.12 percent weightage in the wholesale price index, accelerated to 1.89 percent for the week under review as compared to 2.47 percent in the previous week, according to data from the ministry of commerce and industry.

Fuel and power inflation remained unchanged at 14.45 percent.

The headline inflation based on the wholesale price index fell to a two-year low of 7.47 percent in December, compared to 9.11 percent in the previous month.