The Hindu Business Line : Inflation up on costlier manufactured products

THE annual wholesale price-based inflation went up by 0.35 percentage points to 5.3 per cent during the week ended March 5, as against 4.95 per cent during the previous week.

The year-on-year inflation rose mainly due to costlier manufactured products, including edible oils, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Friday.

The WPI rose by 0.1 per cent to 188.9 points despite cheaper mass consumption primary articles and fuel prices remaining unchanged.

The Government also revised upwards the final inflation during the week ended January 8 to 5.77 per cent, as against the provisional estimate of 5.6 per cent. The WPI stood corrected at 188.9 points during the second week of January, as compared with a provisional figure of 188.6 points.

According to the data, the index for Primary Articles' group was down marginally by 0.2 per cent to 184.8 points due to cheaper food and non-food articles. The Fuel, Power, Light and Lubricants' group index stood firm at the previous week's level of 289 points. The Manufactured Products' group index rose by 0.2 per cent to 168 points due to costlier food items, chemicals, non-metallic minerals and basic metals.

Among the Primary Articles' group, the Food Articles' group index declined by 0.1 per cent to 184.2 points due to lower prices for urad (3 per cent), gram (2 per cent) and masur, condiments and spices, wheat, moong, arhar and fruits and vegetables (1 per cent each). Prices, however, rose in the case of fish-marine and pork (4 per cent each), ragi (2 per cent) and jowar and barley (1 per cent each).

The index for Non-Food Articles' group was down by 0.3 per cent to 179.3 points due to cheaper groundnut seed and soyabean (3 per cent each), copra and raw silk (2 per cent each) and fodder (1 per cent). But prices moved up for raw rubber (4 per cent) and raw cotton, raw jute and gingelly seed (1 per cent each).

Among the Manufactured Products Group, the Food Products' group index rose by 0.1 per cent to 174.9 points due to costlier coffee powder (8 per cent), rice bran oil (2 per cent) and sugar, groundnut oil, imported edible oil and khandsari (1 per cent each), but oil cakes became cheaper by 3 per cent. The index for Textiles' group fell by 0.2 per cent to 130.9 points due to lower prices of polyester yarn, viscose filament yarn, nylon filament yarn, cotton yarn-hanks and cotton yarn-cones (1 per cent each).

Prices, however, went up for hessian and sacking bags (2 per cent), hessian cloth, synthetic yarn, texturised yarn and other cotton yarn (1 per cent each). A 1-per cent dip in the prices of boards pushed down the Paper and Paper Products' group index by 0.1 per cent to 176.2 points.

The Chemicals and Chemical Products' group index was up by 0.1 per cent to 184.2 points due to costlier oxygen (2 per cent), vitamin liquids, liquid oral other than vitamins and super phosphate P205 content (1 per cent each). The Non-Metallic Mineral Products' group index shot by 5.1 per cent to 167.8 points due to higher prices of cement (8 per cent), building bricks (3 per cent) and ceramic tiles (1 per cent).

The index for Basic Metals, Alloys and Metal Products' group rose by 0.2 per cent to 208.6 points owing to costlier narrow steel strips (4 per cent), other iron steel (3 per cent), ordinary pig iron and basic pig iron (2 per cent each) and bars and rounds, steel sheets, plates and strips, brass sheets and strips (1 per cent each). However, barrels and tin boxes became cheaper by 2 per cent during the week in review.

A 2-per cent fall in the price of ceiling fans pushed down the index for Machinery and Machine Tools' group by 0.1 per cent to 143.4 points. Also, a 2-per cent decline in the prices of two- and three-wheeler parts and components led to a 0.1-per cent fall in the Transport Equipment and Parts' group index to 157.9 points.

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