The Extended National Consumer Price Index (IPCA) of March presented a variation of 0.52% and was below the 0.78% rate recorded in February. With the result of March, the accumulated of the first quarter of the year was closed at 2.06%, much above the 1.23% rate related to the same period of 2009. Considering the last 12 months, the index was 5.17%, also above the immediately previous 12 months (4.83%). The IPCA of March 2009 was 0.20%. 

The reduction of IPCA (from 0.78% in February to 0.52% in March) may be explained by the absence of a seasonal effect in the group Education, which concentrated a rise of 4.53% in February. On the other hand, prices of food products kept rising, reaching 3.69% in this first quarter of the year. With the significant rate of 1.55% in March, much above the 0.96% of February, the group Food products and Beverages had 0.35 percentage point of the index and was responsible for 67% of the result. The following table shows the behavior of the groups from one month to the other.

Among the food products whose prices decreased from one month to the other, only soybean oil (-1.57%), ground coffee (-1.08%) and chicken pieces (-1.09%) are worth highlighting.

Fuels presented falling results, changing from 1.14% in February to -2.51% in March. The gasoline liter (from 0.97% to -1.95%) became cheaper because of the strong reduction in alcohol prices (from 3.21% in February to -8.87% in March). From one month to the other, fuels result was influenced by the temporary reduction of CIDE (Contribution of Intervention on the Economic Domain) bracket, with the resulting reduction of ICMS (Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services), and by the reduction of anhydrous alcohol from 25% to 20% in the composition of gasoline.

Non-food products changed from 0.73% in February to 0.22% in March, reflecting the reduction verified in the groups Education (from 4.53% to 0.54%) and Transport (from 0.79% to -0.54%).

Among regional indexes, the highest rates belonged to the following metropolitan areas: Belo Horizonte (0.81%), Rio de Janeiro (0.80%) and Porto Alegre (0.80%). The lowest index was that of Goiânia (-0.17%). The next table shows the monthly results by surveyed area. 

For the calculation of the monthly index, prices collected from February 26 to March 29, 2010 (reference), were compared to those in effect from January 29 to February 25, 2010 (base). INPC has been calculated by IBGE since 1979, and it refers to families with monetary income from 1 to 6 minimum wages, with a salaried head of the house, and encompasses nine metropolitan areas in the country, besides the municipality of Goiânia and Brasília.

Still in the group Food products and Beverages, tomatoes, whose production has been damaged by heat and strong rain, became 42.95% more expensive and led the main contributions with 0.08 percentage point. Most food products had their prices increased from a month to the other, some also influenced by the weather, such as potatoes, whose prices increased 8.44%. Below, the main rises are shown.

For the calculation of the monthly index, prices collected from February 26 to March 29, 2010 (reference) were compared to those in effect from January 29 to February 2010 (base). IPCA has been calculated by IBGE since 1980, and it refers to families with monetary income ranging from 1 to 40 minimum wages, whatever the source, encompassing nine metropolitan areas of the country, besides the municipality of Goiânia and Brasília.

INPC of March was 0.71%

The National Consumer Price Index (INPC) presented a variation of 0.71% in March, very close to the 0.70% result of February. With the month rate, the accumulated in the year was closed in 2.31%, much above the 1.15% rate related to the same period of 2009. Considering the last 12 months, the index was 5.30%, above the immediately previous 12 months (4.77%). In March 2009, INPC had been 0.20%.

The variation of food products was 1.68%, whereas non-food products increased 0.30%. In February the results were 1.09% and 0.54%, respectively.

Among regional indexes, the highest was that of Curitiba (1.19%), whereas the lowest was recorded in Goiânia (0.35%). The table below contains the indexes by surveyed area.