Wholesale inflation rises to 2.38% in February as food items gets costlier

Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation increased by a notch to 2.38 per cent in February, from 2.31 per cent in January, led by prices of manufactured foods such as vegetable oil and drinks, according to government data released on Monday. In comparison, WPI inflation stood at 0.2 per cent in February 2024.

The Ministry of Commerce & Industry reported that the inflation rise was majorly attributed to higher prices of food items, food articles, non-food articles, other manufacturing, and textiles.

- Manufactured food products' inflation jumped to 11.06 per cent in February.
- Vegetable oil prices rose by 33.59 per cent.
- Beverages recorded a minor hike of 1.66 per cent.

Also Read: February Inflation Data: Retail inflation cools off to 3.61%, food inflation eases; core inflation increases

Deflation of vegetable prices, fuel cooling

While overall wholesale inflation increased, the prices of vegetables decreased, with potato prices decreasing steeply from 74.28 per cent in January to 27.54 per cent in February. In the meantime, the fuel and power group continued to record deflation, although at a reduced rate of 0.71 per cent in February versus 2.78 per cent in January.

Retail inflation slows

Retail inflation, as gauged by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), slowed to a seven-month low of 3.61 per cent in February because of a fall in food prices, as per data published last Wednesday.

Month-on-month movements in WPI categories

Primary articles

- The primary articles index dropped by 1.74 per cent to 186.6 in February from 189.9 in January.
- Food articles prices fell by 2.05 per cent, crude petroleum and natural gas by 1.46 per cent, minerals by 1.26 per cent, and non-food articles by 0.36 per cent.

Fuel & power 

- The fuel and power index increased by 2.12 per cent to 153.8 in February from 150.6 in January.
- Electricity prices went up by 4.28 per cent, and mineral oil prices by 1.87 per cent.
- Coal prices were stable.

Manufactured products

- The manufactured products index went up by 0.42 per cent to 143.8 in February from 143.2 in January.
- Prices in 17 out of 22 categories, such as food products, basic metals, non-metallic mineral products, and chemicals, went up.
- Prices went down in wood products and leather products, but three categories did not change.

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WPI Food Index declines

The WPI Food Index that comprises food articles of primary articles and food products of manufactured goods fell from 191.4 in January to 189.0 in February.  The WPI Food Index annual rate of inflation reduced from 7.47 per cent in January to 5.94 per cent in February.

The last Wholesale Price Index for December 2024 stood at 155.7 with an inflation rate of 2.57 per cent on a year-on-year basis for all commodities. Fresh information on trends in inflation across commodity groups can be seen in the annexures released by the ministry.