Non-vegetarian food lovers are feeling the pinch as prices of eggs, meat and seafood climbed sharply in June, rising much faster than overall inflation and adding to household food bills.
Prices of meat, fish and eggs increased 1.35% month-on-month in June, the sharpest sequential rise in five months after a 3% jump in January. This is according to a Moneycontrol analysis of inflation data.
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The increase comes even as headline retail inflation remains close to the Reserve Bank of India's 4% target, highlighting the disproportionate rise in protein-rich foods.
Overall food inflation accelerated to 5.22% year-on-year in June from 4.66% in May, while inflation in the meat, fish and eggs category climbed to 8.79%, up from 8.48% a month earlier.
Egg prices recorded the sharpest monthly increase among major protein items, rising 3.71% in June after a 2.6% gain in May.
Beef and buffalo meat prices rose 3.41% over the previous month, while fish and prawn prices climbed 2.9%, marking their biggest monthly increase in nearly one-and-a-half years.
On an annual basis, beef and buffalo meat remained the fastest-inflating category, with prices up 12.3% from a year earlier, compared with 9.79% in May.
Chicken inflation stood at 10.83%, while fish and prawns became costlier by 7.7%.
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Goat meat and mutton inflation accelerated to 7.25%, and egg inflation edged up to 6.45%.
Pork was the only major category to buck the trend, with prices declining 0.62% during the month.
Annual inflation in pork also eased to 1.21%, making it the lone exception in an otherwise broad-based rise in non-vegetarian food prices.
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