Food, non-alcoholic beverages’ inflation in Guimaras jumps to 2 % in February

On a year-on-year inflation or changes in price level relative to the previous year of the same month (February 2020 to February 2021), Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages’ Inflation in Guimaras jumped to 2.0 percent from a deflation of 0.3 percent in January 2021.

The 2.0 percent inflation was the result of price changes in February 2020 and 2021 mainly brought by the price increment n Oil and Fats (14.8%); Vegetables (10.4%); Meat (7.7%), Fish (5.3%); Food Products N.E.C. (5.3%); and Milk, Cheese and Eggs (5.0%).

The deflation on Food groups during the months of September and October 2020 on a year-on-year basis was due to the decrease in prices of Bread and Cereals at -0.2 percent on the average, Meat (-8.5%), Fruits (-4.7%) and Vegetables (-6.3%).

The faster 2.1 inflation on Food group in February 2021 was due to the marked up prices of Meat (7.7%), Fish (5.3%), Milk, Cheese and Eggs (5.0%), vegetables (10.4%), and Other Cereals, Flour, Cereal Preparation, Bread, Pasta and Other Bakery Products (5.6%).

Nine months, however, recorded inflation starting at 3.5 percent in February 2020, before moving up to 4.3 percent until it finally reached its peak in April at 5.0 percent rate.

But with the continuous slow movement in prices on meat and cereals, inflation continuously dropped every month starting in May until it reached its lowest level on October 2020 at -0.8 percent.

Inflation again picked up to 0.5 and 0.6 percent in November and December, respectively which finally hiked to 2.1 percent in February 2021 from -0.3 a month ago with a notable increment of 1.8 percentage points. (See Figure 1)

In Non-Alcoholic Beverages, an annual inflation of 2.6 percent was recorded with an index of 136.9 in February 2021 over its 133.4 index in February 2020. Prices slightly increased by 0.6% in February relative to its prices in January of the current year.

For the month-on-month inflation in February relative to January 2021 an increase of 3.1 percent

was recorded due to accelerated prices of the following food products: Bread and Cereals

(3.5%), Meat (5.3%), Fish (4.0%); Oils and Fats (1.2%), Fruits (1.5%), Vegetables (1.2%), Sugar, Jam, Honey, Chocolate, & Confectionery (1.4%), Food products N.E.C. (1.3%). See table 1.

Meanwhile, among the five provinces in Western Visayas, inflation in Food and Non- Alcoholic Beverage, Guimaras had the fastest rate at 3.1 percent, followed by Negros Occidental and Capiz with 2.6 percent and 1.4 percent inflation, respectively.

“Antique recorded the slowest inflation on Food and Non- Alcoholic Beverage at 0.3 percent,” Guimaras Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.