Food prices rise amid a delay in the monsoons

As a result of the late arrival of monsoons, seeding of Kharif crops was delayed. Due to this, the price of kitchen essentials like rice and rice-based goods such as Poha and Murmura, as well as Jowar, Bajra, and chicken, has increased by 5-15% during the past two weeks. Despite government price control initiatives, prices for wheat and pulses have also remained stable at high levels.

Market participants and industry analysts anticipate that food costs will remain stable or rise until the weather conditions are appropriate for sowing.

Some of the important staple food grown in the kharif season are paddy, pulses like tur, moong, and urad, oilseeds like soyabean and peanuts.

Due to high temperatures, the output of poultry farms was decreased, which increased chicken costs.

"Delay in monsoon by another 7-10 days may have an adverse impact on the acreages under of pulses crops which may tend to price rise for the overall pulse complex. For other key crops like paddy, if the inadequate rainfall situation prevails till the end of July, it may lead to decline in paddy acreages and production leading to further price rise," said Pushan Sharma, director (research), CRISIL Market Intelligence and Analytics, as reported by ET.