Food inflation down for second straight week to 10.05 per cent

Food inflation eased to 10.05 per cent for the week ended Aug 14 from 10.35 per cent a week earlier, official data released today showed.

Food inflation eased to 10.05 per cent for the week ended Aug 14 from 10.35 per cent a week earlier, official data released on Thursday showed.

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The government's decision to freeze exports of food grains and good monsoon rains have had a sobering effect on prices for the second successive week.

The fuel prices index, however, stayed steady at previous week's level of 12.57 per cent, data released by the commerce ministry showed.

The primary articles index rose at a slower rate at 14.75 per cent, compared to the previous week's increase of 14.85 percent.

Following are the rise and fall in prices of some of the main commodities that form the sub-index for food articles over the past 52 weeks:

Cereals: 7.1 per cent

Rice: 7.72 per cent

Wheat: 7.61 per cent

Pulses: 15.99 per cent

Vegetables: (-) 14.23 per cent

Fruits: 15.24 per cent

Milk: 18.22 per cent

Potatoes: (-) 50.04 per cent

Onions: (-) 7.29 per cent

According to recently released data, wholesale price inflation, the measure for overall increase in prices, was at 9.97 per cent in July.

The rise in inflation has forced the Reserve Bank of India to turn hawkish in its monetary policy action. It had raised key interest rates by 25 basis points in its quarterly review in June.

The still high inflation could force another hike, something that the central bank has said it would not shy away from.