Food inflation rose for three successive weeks, moving closer to 18 per cent for the week ended January 30, on account of rising prices of potato and pulses. The wholesale price-based food inflation rose to 17.94 per cent in the last week of January from 17.56 per cent in the previous week Potato prices jumped 40.57 per cent over the last year, while pulses became dearer by 41.24 per cent. The inflation for primary articles, which include food and non-food items in raw form, increased to 15.75 per cent during the week from 14.56 per cent a week earlier.The price index for food articles, on the weekly basis, moved up 0.3 per cent on account of higher rates of fruits and vegetables , while rates of fish marine, spices, condiments and bajra increased by one per cent each.