Posts Tagged ‘Ragi’
Fewer cereals still for more rupees
The Labour Bureau of the Government of India has done us a most valuable service by disaggregating from the consumer price indices, separate indices for the individual items that a household typically buys, whether every day, periodically (weekly or monthly) and even annual purchases.
I have charted here the data for the cereal and cereal substitutes. This group consists of rice, wheat, maida (flour), suji (coarse wheat flour), bread, sewai (rice vermicelli), maize atta, wheat atta, tapioca, jowar, sago, ragi, bajra, maize, sattu (ground cereals) and the grouping of beaten or flattened rice (chira, muri, khoi, lawa (CMKL)).
The chart describes the movement – over 96 months from 2006 January to 2013 December – of the price indices (not the prices) for these foods. These are calculated as all-India prices using the consumer price index for industrial workers (CPI-IW) and the base is 2001 = 100.
There are several significant findings from examining the movement of this group of price indices. (1) Over 2008, 2009 and 2010 the rise was steadily upward with a pronounced spike in some items that lasted from 2009 August to 2010 May. This is noteworthy as no spike is visible (for the group as a whole) during 2007-08 when there was a worldwide steep rise in the prices of foods.
(2) From around 2010 May, maida, maize atta, CMKL, bread, wheat atta, rice, wheat increased at a muted rate and even remained flat over short periods whereas other cereals and cereal substitutes rose steeply and/or showed volatility in their indices. (3) From 2012 June the price indices of all items in this group rose steadily and steeply – more steeply than at any time since 2006 January and have continued this accelerated pace until the end of the recorded period, 2013 December.
This is another excellent release into the public domain of valuable indicators by the Labour Bureau which help describe the relentless rise in the prices of food staples in India. As the Labour Bureau has shown, whether it is the consumer price indices it maintains or whether it is the individual goods and services necessary to maintain an acceptable minimum standard of living for the households engaged in agriculture, manufacture or which are dependent on self-employment, the so-called ‘India growth story’ that the ruling government and its supporters speak triumphantly about in fact imposes burdens on the working classes that have grown heavier every month.
Cornflakes and oats invasion, 10 rupees at a time
What does a breakfast cost in India? Depends what you choose to eat or cook. A breakfast for three in urban south India, with dosa, averekal akki and ragi roti (and three small filter coffees), will cost within 100 rupees at an ordinary udupi cafe. A kilogram of wheat rava or rice rava, from which you can cook several upma breakfasts, will cost no more than 50 rupees from a small grocer in a middle-class ward of any town or city. A packet of poha (beaten rice) costs around 45 rupees a kilogram.
Now consider the cornflakes and oats breakfasts that are being marketed both by food MNCs in India (such as Quaker Oats, which is PepsiCo India, FritoLay Division; or Kellogg India; or Saffola, Marico Limited). [See the new post, ‘Let them eat biscuits’.]
Quaker Oats sells sachets of oats-based breakfasts for 10 rupees each. These are flavours such as ‘Homestyle masala’. ‘Kesar kishmish’, ‘Lemony veggie’ and ‘Strawberry apple’. Saffola sells sachets of oats-based breakfasts for 15 rupees each, and its flavours are ‘Curry and pepper’, ‘Masala and coriander’ and ‘Pepper and spice’. Then there is Kellogg’s which has for example ‘Corn flakes strawberry’ and ‘Corn flakes chocos’, both for 10 rupees.
The per kilo prices of these almost-ready breakfasts (warm milk or hot water to be added) can be seen in the table below:
Why has this happened? Part of the reason is that food products manufacturers, and in particular breakfast cereals companies, find it is cheaper to pack dry ready-to-eat (milk or water to be added) portions in strips of single-use sachets than in a plastic containers. The prices at which these are sold are in simple multiples – 5, 10 and 15, with the grammage being adjusted for these prices. This is the ugly side of the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ market, a foul term that ignores the mis-nutrition these food companies are responsible for in their pursuit of the price-conscious consumer (rural and urban alike). It also ignores the environmental aspect of such packaging, the costs of which are borne by towns and cities in the form of increasing per capita loads of plastic, packaging and laminated sachets.