[BBC World Service] Food Price Index
World Service Food Price Index Explained
So how hard are people being hit by the world food crisis?
Official statistics can be weeks or months out of date, so BBC World Service is calling on its global network of reporters to keep you in the picture week by week.
The graph
The price index is tracking food prices in eight major cities. Each week our reporters head to the shops and record the prices for five of that country’s staple foods. Every basket of goods has been normalised to a cost of 100 in the first week of this experiment.
How much it would cost to buy the same basket in later weeks is then reflected in the rise or dip above or below 100. Check the individual city pages for details of each food ‘basket’.
The Data
This is how the index currently looks for Delhi: (Click links on BBC page to see other cities’ Food Price Index.)
Each week, our correspondent visits the same shop to buy five of the staple items found in the typical Delhi shopping basket. The price rises and falls will be tracked and contribute to the World Food Price Index.
Rice (1kg)
Ground flour (1kg)
Lentils (1kg)
Onions (1kg)
Milk (1L)
Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi writes:
Delhi is a relatively affluent city but even here families can spend up to half their monthly budget on food so a sharp price rise is a major cause for concern.
Over the past few months the price of rice and lentils have risen steadily mainly due to increasing fuel costs, since all these products are transported into the city from the countryside.
The price of milk, on the other hand has stayed constant because it is mainly supplied by local dairies.
In August large parts of northern India were hit by heavy rain and floods which affected the onion crop and that is why the price of onions has been a lot more volatile.
The Graph
Perhaps the most varied price fluctuations of any of the eight cities, the graph show particularly dramatic movement in the price of onions.
