The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Prices of essential items head north

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Monday, Jul 28, 2008
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Prices of essential items head north

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The news is still bad from the market for essential commodities.

With no sign of inflation easing substantially, the prices of most essentials are headed north, indicating that family budgets will remain under strain for many more days to come.

Going by information available with the Department of Economics and Statistics, the prices of most varieties of rice have crept up over the last one month.

Pulses down

The prices of pulses have eased a bit but hardly enough to provide any real solace to the buyer.

The price of sugar has increased by 17 paise a kg and that of coconut oil by a disturbing Rs.6 a kg, marking a 10 per cent increase over the price that prevailed in the second week of June.

The prices of spices and condiments have also shown a generally upward trend with the price of coriander going up by nearly Rs.15 a kg over the month.

Vegetable prices ease

The prices of vegetables and fruits have eased a bit, most notably in the case of tomato, its price falling by as much as 21.30 per cent between late June and mid-July.

However, there has been no such luck with big onion, the price of which got bloated by 27 per cent.

The following were the average prices at the State for every kg of some of the major essential commodities on May 22 (a fortnight before the petroleum price hike came), on June 11 (a week after the price hike) and on July 11 (the latest available figure):

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