Costly food pushes inflation up to 4.10 pc

New Delhi, Aug 24: Costly food items and manufactured products pushed Inflation marginally up to 4.10 per cent for the week ended August 11, from 4.05 per cent previous week.

The annual inflation rate was 5.07 per cent during the corresponding week last year, an official statement said here today.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday had informed the parliament that the government will aim to keep the inflation close to 4.0 per cent.

The Minister also said there would be pressure on food prices until the production of wheat, rice and pulses was stepped up.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for all commodities for the week ended August 11, 2007 rose by 0.1 per cent to 213.4 from 213.1 for the previous week.

The index for 'Primary Food Articles' rose by by 0.4 per cent to 223.5 from 222.5 for the previous week.

The index for the 'Food Articles' group declined by 0.7 per cent to 221.8 (Provisional) from 220.3 for the previous week due to higher prices of fruits and vegetables (four per cent) and bajra (three per cent), masur (two per cent ) and gram (one per cent).

However, the prices of moong (five per cent), mutton (four per cent), eggs (two per cent) and urad (one per cent) declined.

The index for 'Non-Food Articles' group declined by 0.1 per cent to 210.0 (Provisional) from 210.3 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of groundnut seed (two per cent).

However, the prices of raw rubber (five per cent), niger seed (three per cent) and sunflower (one per cent) moved up.

The index for 'Fuel, Power, Light and Lubricants' group remained unchanged at its previous week's level of 322.1.

The index for Manufactured Products group rose by 0.1 per cent to 185.7 (Provisional) from 185.6 (Provisional) for the previous week. The index for 'Textiles' group declined by 0.1 per cent to 132.6 (Provisional) from 132.7 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of polyester yarn (four per cent), polyester staple fibre (three per cent) and cotton yarn-'hanks (one per cent).

However, the prices of textured yarn (three per cent) and cotton yarn cones, hessian and sacking bags and hessian cloth (one per cent each) moved up.

The index for 'Paper and Paper Products' group rose by 0.5 per cent to 194.1 (Provisional) from 193.1 (Provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of kraft paper (four per cent) and mg poster paper (two per cent).

The index for 'Chemicals and Chemicals Products' group rose marginally to 201.9 (Provisional) from 201.8 (Provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of liquid chlorine (three per cent) and caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) and calcium ammonium nitrate n-content (one per cent each).

However, the prices of varnishes (one per cent) declined.

The prices of 'Non-Metallic Mineral Products' group rose by 0.1 per cent to 206.5 (Provisional) from 206.3 (Provisional) for the previous week due to rise in the prices of cement(+0.2 per cent).

The index for 'Basic Metals Alloys and Metal Products' group declined marginally to to 243.7 (Provisional) from 243.8 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of zinc ingots (two per cent) and lead ingots (one per cent).

The index for 'Machinery and Machine Tools' group declined by 0.2 per cent to 165.6 (Provisional) from 165.9 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of electronic equipment (nine per cent).

The index for 'Transport Equipment and Parts' group rose by 0.4 per cent to 164.7 (Provisional) from 164.0 (Provisional) for the previous week due to higher prices of broad gauge passenger carriage (14 per cent) and broad gauge other coaching vehicles (seven per cent).

UNI