If you prefer chicken over daal, you have probably spent less for an average home-made thali in January. Are you wondering how? Well, according to Crisil’s monthly indicator of food plate cost- The Roti Rice Rate, the cost of home-cooked non-veg thali is down 13% Year-on-Year in January due to lower poultry prices. The vegetarian thali on the other hand got expensive by almost 5% as a result of the uptick in prices of pulses, rice, onion and tomato in the same period.
The cost of the vegetarian thali was impacted by nearly 35% YoY increase in onion prices and 20% on-year jump in prices of tomato. Prices of rice, which accounted for 12% of the veg thali cost and pulses that had a 9% share in the overall thali cost rose 14% and 21% on-year, respectively, as per the Crisil’s monthly indicator of food plate cost.
In the same period, the non-veg thali cost came down due to 26% decline YoY in broiler chicken prices amid higher production. Broiler poultry accounts for 50% of the non-vegetarian thali cost. In fact, broiler poultry prices slipped 8-10% month-on-month, when compared to December prices.
On a Month-on-month comparison, however, there is some reprieve for consumers. The vegetarian thali cost is down 6% and non-vegetarian thali is cheaper by 8% compared to December rates. According to the report, this was due to a 26% MoM dip in onion prices and 16% decline in tomato prices as compared to December. “Higher domestic supply of onion amid export curbs and fresh tomato arrivals from the northern and eastern states,” helped the prices as per the report.