Onion prices continued to decline year-on-year for the 18th consecutive month from September 2021, recording the sharpest decline of 40.14% in wholesale prices in February 2023. Image for representation purpose only. , Photo Credit: Reuters
India’s wholesale price inflation (WPI) eased to a two-year low of 3.85% in February from 4.73% in January, inflation in manufactured products eased from 3% in January to just under 2%, and primary articles food and fuel And power inflation is registering a marginal decline in month-on-month inflation. Base effects also played a role as wholesale prices increased by 13.43% in February 2022.
Inflation in fuel and power eased marginally from 15.15% in January to 14.8% this February, compared to 30.8% in the same month of 2022. Inflation as measured by the Wholesale Food Index fell to 2.76% in February from 2.95% in January. The pace of decline in consumer food prices is slightly higher than that observed, from 6% to 5.95% in the same period.
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Onion prices continued to decline year-on-year for the 18th consecutive month from September 2021, with February 2023 recording the sharpest decline of 40.14% in wholesale prices amid this deflationary streak.
Inflation in vegetables contracted for the fourth consecutive month, decelerating by 21.5% from February 2022 levels. Potato prices which had been rising sharply since February 2022, fell 14.3% in February 2023, with double-digit inflation for 11 consecutive months.
While retail food grain inflation edged closer to 17% in February, wholesale inflation in key food items eased to a three-month low of 13.95%. Wheat inflation also eased to a three-month low of 18.54, but paddy inflation rose to 8.6%, the highest in at least two years.
Wholesale inflation in fruits (7%), and milk (10.33%) also rose to new highs in recent days and were higher than the price increase consumer level experienced in February, indicating more retail inflation in the coming months. There may be scope for a price hike.
Within the fuel and power segment, LPG prices declined for the fourth month in a row, but marked the slowest pace of deflation in those four months at -7.1%. Inflation in petrol prices fell to 15.2% in February from 15.5% in January, while high speed diesel inflation eased to 24.6% in February from 28.5% in the previous month.
Textile products registered a third consecutive month of decline in prices, with deflation accelerating to 3.5% from 2.1% in January. However, wholesale inflation in apparel rose to a three-month high of 3.5%.