Food-plate costs shot up to an 11-month high for non-vegetarians as well as vegetarians in July, fuelled by a sharp 55% month-on-month surge in prices of tomato and a spike of 20% and 16% in onion potato prices, respectively, as per Crisil’s monthly cost tracker for home-cooked meals. The average cost of a vegetarian meal increased 11% from June to July to touch ₹32.6, as per Crisil’s estimates, while a non-vegetarian plate cost increased 6% to ₹61.4, the highest level since September 2023.
The slower pace of price rise for non-vegetarian food was attributed to stable prices of broiler, which constitutes more than 50% of the meal’s cost. However, thanks to the high base from last July when tomato prices had hit ₹110 a kilogram (kg), the price of a vegetarian meal dropped 9% while that of a non-veg meal dropped 4% on a year-on-year basis.
Tomato prices were about ₹66 per kg in July compared with ₹42 in June. While tomato prices were thus 40% lower last month than July 2023, onion prices were 65% higher and potatoes 55% more expensive owing to lower crop arrivals, Crisil noted. “While lower rabi production impacted onion prices, late blight infestation in Punjab, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh affected the potato output,” Crisil Market Intelligence and Analytics said in its report.
Tomato output was also hit last month due to whitefly infestations in Karnataka and high temperatures in that State as well as Andhra Pradesh. Food inflation as measured in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) had surged to a six-month high of 9.4% in June, from 8.7% in the previous two months. Crisil’s monthly food plate cost tracker had indicated a 10% year-on-year rise in vegetarian meal costs in June, with non-vegetarian plate costs dropped 4%. The official retail inflation numbers for July are expected on August 12.
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