India's food inflation set to worsen as Russia-Ukraine crisis intensifies

Among food items, the data shows that inflation in milk has risen from 2.73 per cent in January 2021 to 4.09 per cent in January 2022

Managing inflation a challenge

The Russia-Ukraine crisis has pushed up prices for almost all global commodities, but edible oils, wheat and grains, fertilisers, crude oil, and metals have been hit particularly hard. In India, retail and wholesale food inflation has been rising, with the most recent data available showing that WPI food was 10.33 per cent and CPI-food was 5.43 per cent as of January 2022.Going forward, the rising global prices of edible oils, grains, cotton, fertiliser, milk, sugar and other commodities will likely make the Centre’s inflation management highly challenging.

Prices of food items heading north

Among food items, the data shows