Prices of 27 commodities increased, 20 registered decline and five remained unchanged in December 2011 as compared to the preceding month, said a report of Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) issued here on Tuesday. FAFEN monitors collected prices of 52 commodities from 182 retail outlets across the country on December 10, 2011.
The report said 27 commodities, including kitchen fuels, some cooked items, wheat, varieties of apples and medical services, registered an average price increase of 3 percent, while 20 commodities, including vegetables, sweeteners, some pulses and chicken, saw an average decrease of 10 percent. The highest 13 percent increase was registered in the charges of blood test (complete picture) while those of other observed services like blood sugar and urine tests (routine examinations) each rose by 2 percent.
All the kitchen fuels, including Kerosene oil, firewood and LPG registered an increase of 2 percent. Among the spices monitored, the price of red chili powder went up by 4 percent and salt by 2 percent. On the other hand, mutton and beef registered a 3 percent and 1 percent increase respectively.
Wheat flour price went up by 2 percent, possibly because of the sowing season of the crop across the country. Golden and dark red apples registered a price increase of 7 percent and 6 percent respectively. Abundance of Kinnow in the market with the onset of winter saw its price fall by 23 percent. The price of banana also registered a 2 percent decrease in December.
Winter also had an impact on the prices of eggs and peanuts, which went up by 9 percent and 6 percent respectively. However, the prices of other poultry products - chicken broiler (live) and chicken broiler (meat) - were down by 6 percent and 5 percent respectively.
Prices of tomatoes, onions and potatoes came down by 44, 31 and 26 percent respectively as the harvesting season of the respective crops got underway in December. All the sugarcane products - sugar, gur and desi shaker - registered a decrease of 16, 11 and 8 percent in respectively with the harvest of sugarcane continuing across the country.
Red beans recorded the biggest price increase of 6 percent, followed by chickpeas and black gram, each registering a 1 percent increase. The prices of moong pulse by 2 percent, gram pulse by 2 percent, white beans by 1 percent, masoor pulse by 1 percent and mash pulse by 1 percent came down. Similarly, among condiments, price of turmeric was up 2% while that of ginger fell 8% and garlic by 7%.
Prices of plain chapatti and plates of cooked dal and vegetables increased by 1 percent while a prepared cup of tea and plate of cooked beef each registered a 3 percent decrease. Average prices of commodities, including yoghurt, wheat grain, branded cooking oil, basmati rice broken and branded vegetable ghee, remained unchanged between November 10 and December 10, 2011.