Monthly Trends in Food and Beverages
Food inflation stood at 2.5% month-over-month. The increase was mainly driven by higher meat prices (7.3%), with beef prices rising 9.6%. Meanwhile, fruit prices rose moderately by 1.8%, contributing positively to the monthly change. Conversely, the decline in vegetables (-7.9%) partially offset the rise in the food and beverage category, which was 0.5 percentage points lower than the November figure.
Food consumed at home and away from home
Food consumed at home rose by 2.6% this month, while food consumed away from home increased by 2.0%. Over the past 12 months, these categories have seen cumulative increases of 37.8% and 43.5%, respectively, resulting in a carryover effect for January of 0.3 percentage points—lower than last month’s figure.