Rise in food inflation temporary: Pawar

Food Minister Sharad Pawar today said that the 0.2 percentage point increase in food inflation is "temporary" as there is no rising trend in food prices.

The annual food inflation rose to 12.81 per cent for the week ended July 3 from 12.63 per cent a week earlier. "That 0.2 per cent rise in food inflation is temporary... This (rise in food prices) is not the trend," Pawar said on the sidelines of an Indian Council of Agricultural Research Award ceremony here.

The country's food inflation came down from 18-19 per cent to 12.81 per cent, he said, adding that vegetable prices have recently risen around Delhi mainly due to floods in Punjab and Haryana. "I am confident food prices are going down," he noted.

Economists attributed that the about 0.2 percentage point rise in food inflation in the previous week to transport hassles and the hike in fuel prices. This broke the two-week declining trend in food inflation.

Recently, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had exulted hope that inflation would ease after the Kharif season in September.

Asked if the government will consider removing the ban on sugar futures with the fall in spot prices, Pawar said, "We will take a view on this by August-end, when we get the correct picture of the sugarcane production."

Sugar futures was banned in May 2009 and the suspension is valid till September 2010. At present, retail sugar prices have come down to Rs 30 a kg in the national capital from the high of nearly Rs 50 a kg in mid-January.