Out of the revision index (2011-12), a new WPI food index has been designed out of the food articles. The new index was launched on 12 May 2017. Already, a Food Price Index was there with WPI and this index is now restructured.
The WPI food index shows price changes in food items with price quotations from producers. On the other hand, the CPI Food Price Index uses price quotations from retailers. The WPI Food Index takes commodities from ‘Food Products’ of Manufactured Goods and ‘Food Articles’ from Primary Articles group.
The WPI Food index is compiled by taking the aggregate of WPI for “Food Products” under “Manufacture Products” and “Food Articles” under “Primary Article” using weighted arithmetic mean. (Indices for Food Articles and Food Products were being released separately in WPI (2004-05) also. But no separate estimate like WPI food index was being generated then).
