Food inflation softened to 18.65 per cent for the week ended December 12, though essential items like potato and pulses continued to remain expensive.

The food inflation declined by 1.30 percentage points during the second week from 19.95 per cent in the previous week.

Potato prices remained high recording an increase of 115 per cent on a year-on-year basis, followed by pulses whose prices jumped by 41.61 per cent.

Vegetables as a whole turned expensive by 37.97 per cent.

The inflation for primary articles, which include food, cereals and fuel, rose to 14.66 per cent in the reporting week.

The price index for food articles declined by 1.2 per cent during the week mainly on account of decline in prices of fruits and vegetables (2 per cent), wheat (5 per cent), bajra (4 per cent) and spices and tea (1 per cent each). However, prices of moong rose by 2 per cent while jowar became dearer by 1 per cent.

Among non-food items, prices of tobacco rose by a whopping 33 per cent, raw cotton by 6 per cent while raw rubber became expensive by 4 per cent.