Food inflation fell to 9.03 per cent for the week ended August 6, even as the price of all items barring pulses rose on an annual basis.
Food inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at 9.90 per cent in the previous week. The rate of price rise of food items was 14.51 per cent in the first week of August 2010.
According to the data released by the Government today, price of pulses became cheaper by 5.63 per cent year-on-year during the week under review. However, all other items continued to remain expensive.
Onions were 37.62 per cent more expensive on an annual basis during the week ended August 6, while prices of fruits went up 26.46 per cent.
Eggs, meat and fish became dearer by 9.93 per cent and the price of milk was up 9.76 per cent year-on-year.
Cereals and vegetables were up 6.23 per cent and 2.59 per cent, respectively, while potato prices climbed 7.22 per cent.
The fall in food inflation numbers could be attributed to a moderation in the rate of price rise of some of the items on a week-on-week basis, even though they continued to grow.
In the previous week ended July 30, the rate of price rise of items such as vegetables, potatoes, milk and egg, meat and fish was more on an annual basis in comparison to the week under review.
The decline could also be attributed to the high inflation figure of over 14 per cent for the corresponding year-ago period, a phenomenon dubbed the ‘high base effect’ in economic parlance.
Overall, primary articles recorded 11.64 per cent inflation for the week ended August 6, down from 12.22 per cent in the previous week. Primary articles have a share of over 20 per cent in the WPI.