An increase in the cost of cereals, vegetables, pulses, milk, and milk products, retail food inflation increased to 7.6% in August from 6.7% in July. As a result, the consumer price index’s total inflation rate increased to 7% on a yearly basis in August from 6.71% in the previous month. Because of an increase in the price of cereals and some important vegetables and fruits, food and beverage inflation increased to 7.57% in August from the 6.71% reported in July.
Food prices rose by 7.56% in June compared to 7.84% in May. In August, potatoes, tomatoes, lemons, wheat, bananas, brinjal, and milk, rose significantly. In August 2022, price inflation for potatoes and tomatoes increased by 40.32% and 16.51%, respectively, while it decreased by 18.48% for onions. In August 2022, the price for brinjal increased by 14.67%.
The country’s production of potatoes decreased to 53.6 million tonnes (mt) in the crop year of 2021–22 (July–June) from a record output of 56.1 mt in 2020–21. Similar to this, tomato production decreased from a record 21.18 mt in 2021–2022 to 20.30 mt in 2021–2022. The output of tomatoes has been impacted by recent heavy rains in Karnataka’s major tomato-growing districts, and dealers predict that prices will remain stable for the next four to six weeks.
In August 2022, chicken prices faced negative inflation of 4.16% compared to negative inflation of 2.28% in July and negative inflation of 19.42% in June 2022. Overall food inflation in the meat and fish category was 0.98%. While chana prices decreased by 1.28% in August 2022, the inflation rate for pulses was a mild 2.52%. In August, banana prices increased by 17.84%. Inflation in milk reached 6.46% in August.
