After rising marginally during the previous reporting week, the country?s food inflation eased marginally again because of decline in prices of vegetables.
According to data released on Thursday by commerce and industry ministry, food inflation marginally declined to 12.47% for the week ended July 10 from 12.81% reported last week.
Analysts said that the decline in food inflation would be a soothing news for the government which had been repeatedly attacked by the opposition leaders for its inability to control spiraling food inflation. During the reporting week, while prices of chicken (6%), condiments & spices (3%), and milk, gram, fish-inland and fruits & vegetables (1%) went up, the price of moong (3%) and fish-marine, maize and arhar (1% each) declined.
Year-on-year, a number of essential items like pulses, fruits and milk remained quite expensive. Pulses prices rose by 23.79% , milk by 17.33% and fruits by 10.02%.
However, Economists opined that not much should be interpreted from the weekly fall in inflation as these minor changes and any genuine decline in inflation would come only from September. Earlier, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had expressed confidence that food inflation will moderate after kharif crops arrive in the market. Cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar had also said that inflation will drop in the coming months on good monsoon and prospects of better crop yield. ?Experts are saying that inflation will be 5-6% by year end…I don’t have any reason to disbelieve them,? he had said.