Highlights
The year-on-year inflation has increased by 8.5% for general, 7.8% for food and 9.2% for non-food. The consumer price index of bread and cereals has increased by 15% as compared to October 2012 which significantly contributed to the rise in the indices of food and general consumer price index. The general, food and non-alcoholic beverage and non-food CPI for October 2013 has showed an increase of 0.6%, 0.9% and 0.2%, respectively.
The import parity price of maize (Durban) and wheat (USA) at Addis Ababa increased by one and nine percent from the last month, respectively. The import parity price at the reference markets stood at US $ 450/mt for white maize and at US $ 447/mt for wheat.
The nominal wholesale price of maize increased by about 3 to 22% at markets of Addis Ababa, Ambo, Gonder, Nazareth, Bahar Dar, Dessie, Dire Dawa, Nekemete, Debre Markos and Bure. The highest increase was recorded in Nekemete market (22%) and the highest decrease was in Shashemene (20%). The increase in price could be due to decrease in farmers supply from last year harvest as a result of depletion in stock. The increase in fuel price during the reporting month could also be one of the factors especially for markets depend on the supply from surplus producing areas.
The price of fuel increased by 4%, 3% and 2% for benzene, diesel and kerosene, respectively at the beginning of the reporting month.
In Somali region, the price of imported commodities such as rice, sugar and spaghetti reportedly slightly decreased compared to previous month in Jijiga market. The milk price is high in all assessed markets in Somali region.