Retail food prices have surged by up to 32 per cent after the South West Monsoon hit India in the last week of May, with poor rain compounding the problem, adding to consumer worries.
The monsoon runs from June to September in the country. To date, there is 28 per cent deficit in rainfall (against the average of 89 cm). And the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has downgraded its forecast for August to 90 per cent from 101 per cent after the country observed a dry spell during the first 10 days of this month.
In June-July alone, consumers have seen an enormous rise in prices of varieties of pulses most in demand, besides sugar, groundnut oil, tea and potato, according to analysis of 14 essential commodities collated by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
The rise in prices of food items in June and July this year has been up to 32 per cent, against 18 per cent in the corresponding period of 2008, the data showed.
The prices of these essential items shot up significantly as rain in key growing states became weaker by the end of July.
The retail price of tur, ruling at Rs 62 a kg in June, rose to Rs 82 a kg by the end of July. At present, tur has skyrocketed to about Rs 90 a kg in many places across the country, the data showed.
Chana dal (split chick peas), which was going at Rs 47 a kg in June in Kerala, cost Rs 56 a kg by the end of July. Potato prices have also gone up to Rs 22 a kg, while tea rates have climbed to Rs 290 a kg as on July 31.
Edelweiss Securities recently said in a research report that the weak monsoon would exert further upward pressure on prices of primary articles. “Rainfall deficiency has been all the more pronounced over North East and North West India — both important from the point of view of foodgrain production,” it said.
Besides the government-tracked commodities, the prices of vegetables have become expensive in the retail markets during the period.
According to housewife Sarita Verma in New Delhi: “Vegetables are unaffordable these days. Before June, some veggies like lady’s finger and bitter gourd were available at Rs 25 a kg, but are now ruling at Rs 40 a kg.”
Even a vegetable seller at Bhogal in south Delhi expressed similar views about rising dal prices: “Tur dal has become so expensive that I have stopped buying it.”
