On a year-on-year basis, the food inflation rate eased to 12.30% from 12.85% in the previous week ended Oct 30, but onion prices remained high due to crop damage on account of excessive rains in parts of Maharashtra.

The annual inflation rate for the primary articles group declined to 14.87 percent during the week under review from 15.43 percent recorded in the previous week, according to official data released Thursday.

Egg, meat and fish prices are up 29% from last year, rice prices up 3.11%, wheat prices are up 2.81%, cereals are up 3.44%, while prices of milk and fruits also rose about 20%.

The index for ‘Non-Food Articles’ group declined by 0.1% to 161.7 (Provisional) from 161.9 (Provisional) for the previous week due to lower prices of gaur seed, raw silk, niger seed and cotton seed (2% each) and groundnut seed (1%). However, the prices of safflower (12%), castor seed (3%) and raw rubber and copra (1% each) moved up.

At a function, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan said, “Food inflation is caused by shortage of food and supply. In the mid-term we need to ensure that supply is increased through production to curb inflation.”