The wholesale inflation in December 2022 fell below 5% for the first time since February 2021. The Wholesale inflation in December 2022 came at 4.95%, according to data released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce.
This is the third consecutive month in which the monthly wholesale inflation showed single-digit growth – in November the wholesale inflation was 5.85% and in October, it was 8.67%. The wholesale inflation remained above 10% from April 2021 to September 2022.
“Decline in the rate of inflation in December 2022 is primarily contributed by fall in prices of food articles, mineral oils, crude petroleum & natural gas, food products, textiles and chemicals & chemical products,” says the Ministry of Commerce in a statement issued on Monday.
The wholesale inflation of primary articles fell from 5.52% in November 2022 to 2.38% in December 2022. The growth in wholesale prices of manufactured products also showed a slight dip in December to 3.37% from 3.59% in November 2022.
However, the wholesale inflation of fuel and power remained high at 18.09% in December 2022 compared to 17.35% in November.
The primary articles category, which has a weightage of 22.62% in the index, is constituted of food articles, non-food articles, minerals and crude petroleum & natural Gas.
The Food Index consisting of 'Food Articles' from the Primary Articles group and 'Food Product' from the Manufactured Products group has decreased from 174.3 in November 2022 to 170.3 in December 2022. The rate of inflation based on the WPI Food Index decreased from 2.17% in November 2022 to 0.65% in December 2022.
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In the Fuel & Power category (Weight 13.15%), prices of electricity increased in December compared to November 2022. Prices of mineral oils declined in December 2022 as compared to November 2022.
Manufactured products, with 64.23% weightage in the index, declined by 0.28% in December 2022 over November.
The increase in price is mainly contributed by other manufacturing; printing and reproduction of recorded media; electrical equipment; other non-metallic mineral products; furniture and beverages etc. Some of the groups that have witnessed a decrease in prices are food products; textiles; chemicals and chemical products; basic metals; paper and paper products; motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers etc. in December 2022 as compared to November 2022.