A vegetarian thali became costlier by 7 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in March 2024 mainly on account of dearer onion, tomato and potato amid lower crop arrivals. However, the cost of non-veg thali in March 2024 declined 7 per cent YoY due to a fall in broiler prices, according to the monthly “Roti Rice Rate” report released by Crisil’s ‘Market Intelligence and Analysis’ on Thursday.
The Cost Of A Veg Thali
The cost of a vegetable thali, which comprises roti, vegetables (onions, tomatoes and potatoes), rice, dal, curd and salad, increased to Rs 27.3 per plate in March 2024 from Rs 25.5 in March 2023, it said.
“The cost of the veg thali increased due to a surge of 40 per cent, 36 per cent and 22 per cent on-year in prices of onion, tomato and potato, respectively, due to lower arrivals of onion and potato and low base of last fiscal for tomatoes,” it said. The report said rice and pulses have also got costlier by 14 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively.
However, the thali was cheaper when compared with the Rs 27.4 in the preceding month of February 24.
The Cost Of A Non-Veg Thali
In the case of non-veg thali, which comprises all the same ingredients but dal gets replaced by chicken, the price declined to Rs 54.9 in March 2024 as compared with Rs 59.2 a year ago. However, it was higher as compared to February 2024, when the cost of a non-veg thali had stood at Rs 54.
The decline in non-veg thali on a yearly basis was due to a 16 per cent on-year fall in broiler prices, which has a 50 per cent weightage in the overall price.
However, on a monthly basis, the cost of a non-veg thali increased due to an estimated 5 per cent increase in broiler prices due to higher
demand amid Ramadan coupled with rising feed costs.
Pushan Sharma, director (research) at CRISIL Market Intelligence and Analytics, said, “For the past five months, there has been a divergence in the cost of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food plates. While veg plate has become expensive on-year, non-veg is cheaper. The divergence is because broiler chicken prices have fallen owing to excess supply.”
Going forward, wheat prices are expected to decline with fresh harvest arriving in the market and tomato prices to stay benign, but onion prices could see some near-term firming up because rabi harvest is seen nearly 20 per cent lower, he said.
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