Costlier Veggies: Wholesale Inflation Hits 3.36% For Fourth Straight Month

Wholesale inflation in the country increased for the fourth consecutive month in June, reaching 3.36 per cent, driven by rising prices of food items, especially vegetables, and manufactured goods.

The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation was 2.61 per cent in May and had been (-) 4.18 per cent in June 2023.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry on Monday, “Positive rate of inflation in June 2024 is primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, manufacture of food products, crude petroleum & natural gas, mineral oils, other manufacturing etc.”

Data showed that inflation in food articles climbed to 10.87 per cent in June, up from 9.82 per cent in May.

Vegetable inflation surged to 38.76 per cent in June, compared to 32.42 per cent in May. Onion prices soared by 93.35 per cent, and potato prices rose by 66.37 per cent during the month. Additionally, pulses inflation increased to 21.64 per cent in June.

In the fuel and power sector, inflation was at 1.03 per cent, slightly lower than the 1.35 per cent recorded in May.

Inflation in manufactured products was 1.43 per cent in June, an increase from 0.78 per cent in May.

The rise in the June WPI was consistent with retail inflation data for the month, which showed that retail inflation had reached a four-month high of 5.1 per cent in June, according to data released last week.