"To contain inflation remains a very high priority... and my expectation is it will hover around 5.7 per cent next week," Chidambaram told reporters in New Delhi.

However, moderation in inflation would depend on wheat arrival in the market, which has been delayed by 10 days.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had earlier said wheat arrival was delayed because farmers have shifted to a new strategy by manually separating straw from wheat, instead of using machines, to maximise their earnings. Straw prices have risen considerably due to demand for cattle feed.

Meanwhile, Finance Ministry sources said there was some "glitch" in the inflation figure released today. The figure may be revised downward as they were provisional estimates, they said.

An official statement today said wholesale prices based inflation rose to 6.09 per cent for the first week of the current fiscal against 5.74 per cent in the previous week.