Food inflation inches up to 16.44%

The annual food articles inflation inched up marginally to 16.44 per cent for the the week ended May 1 against 16.04 per cent in the previous week. The index for primary articles that also include food articles rose by 2.9 per cent to 299.5 (provisional) from 291.2 (provisional) for the previous week. The annual rate of inflation for primary articles, calculated on point to point basis, stood at 16.76 per cent (provisional) for the week ended 01/05/2010 over (02/05/2009) as compared to 13.93 percent (provisional) for the previous week (ended 24/04/2010) and 6.39 per cent during the corresponding week (ended 02/05/2009) of the previous year. The index for food articles group rose by 0.6 per cent to 294.0 (provisional) from 292.3 (provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of tea (5%), fruits & vegetables and fish-inland (2% each) and urad, arhar, masur and condiments & spices (1% each). However, the prices of barley (2%) and maize, ragi and jowar (1% each) declined. The index for non-food articles group rose by 9.9 per cent to 283.1 (provisional) from 257.5 (provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of sugarcane (50%), raw cotton (2%) and copra, sunflower, castor seed and linseed (1% each). However, the prices of raw rubber (2%) and tobacco (1%) declined. The index for the fuel group rose by 0.1 per cent to 365.3 (provisional) from 365.1 (provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of lubricants (3%) and furnace oil (1%).