Food inflation goes up to 11.47%

Food inflation went up to 11.47 per cent for the week ended August 28, on the back of increase in prices of cereals, fruits and milk.

This is the second consecutive week when food inflation has shown an upward trend, after a brief period of moderation in July and first half of August.

Food inflation was 10.86 per cent during the previous week ending on August 21.

On a yearly basis, cereals prices rose by 5.07 per cent driven mainly by higher prices of pulses, rice and wheat compared to the same period last year.

While pulses became dearer by 13.44 per cent, prices of rice and wheat rose by 4.74 per cent and 7.04 per cent, respectively, during the week under review on yearly basis.

Among other food items, milk prices soared by 17.60 per cent during the week compared to the same period last year, while that of fruits went up by 10.34 per cent.

Prices of vegetables, however, maintained a downslide in line with trends during the past few months.

While vegetables overall saw a decline of 9.38 per cent on an annual basis, potato became cheaper by over 50.

Onion prices also slid by 10.32 per cent.

Food inflation has been in double-digit for most of the year, except a fortnight in mid-July when it had plummeted to single digit level.

The overall inflation, which also includes rate of change in prices of manufactured goods, fell to single digit at 9.97 per cent in July after a gap of five months.

The figures for August will be released later this week.