Food contributes to reduce inflation in November
December 08, 2017 09h00 AM | Last Updated: December 08, 2017 10h38 AM
Food became cheaper for the seventh month in a row and contributed to reduce inflation, which fell from 0.42% in October to 0.28% in November. The prices of these products dropped, on average, 0.72% this month, highlighted by refined sugar (-4.93%), cassava flour (-4.78%), tomatoes (-4.64%), fruits (-2.09%), French bread (-0.55%), meat (-0.11), carioca beans (-8.40%) and eggs (-3.28%).
Of the 16 subgroups of food products, 13 reduced their prices and only three rose: fish and related items (0,29%), oil and fat (0.45%) and green vegetables (1.65%). Whereas cereals, legumes and oilseeds (-2.71%), flour and pasta, and sugar and derivatives (-2.11%) and fruits (-2.09) registered the major price drops.
"Harvest in 2017 has been too good, thus contributing to reduce food prices along the year. This effect has been decreasing in the last two months, though it is still affecting some products. The third crop of beans, for example, known as winter beans, influenced the price drop of this product in November", stressed Fernando Gonçalves, manager of the IPCA.
Having changed 1.27% and impacting 0.20 p.p., the main contribution to the 0.28% inflation came from the group of Housing, being responsible for a major part of the index. This was due to the adjustment of the red tariff flag level 2, i.e., R$5.00 were charged for each 100 kWh consumed.
Still in the group of Housing, bottled gas changed 1.57%, reflecting the average adjustment of 4.50% in the price of the 13-kg cylinder in the refineries, in force since November 5.
The data of the Extended Consumer Price Index - IPCA, released today by the IBGE, point out that the cumulative inflation between January and November reached 2.50%, well below the 5.97% index recorded in the same period of 2016. The index posted a cumulative rise of 2.80% in the last 12 months. In order to estimate the index of the month, the prices collected from September 28 to October 30 (reference) were compared with the prices in force from August 30 to September 27 (base).
Text: Adriana Saraiva
Artwork: Marcelo Barroso
Photograph: Pexels
