Food prices drop across all income households in Guimaras

Food prices in Guimaras continued their downward trend in July 2025, with inflation falling to -3.7 percent for all income households and -4.7 percent for low-income households, reflecting sustained relief in the cost of basic food items compared with the same month last year, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

“The decline in inflation for low-income households was largely driven by a sharper drop in the prices of cereals and cereal products, with -12.1 percent in July compared with -9.3 percent the previous month,” Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.

“The cereals and cereal products group contributed 62.6 percent to the overall food inflation for the bottom 30 percent income households,” Losare explained.

Other commodities influencing the downtrend in food inflation for the low-income group included fruits and nuts, which eased to 6.3 percent from 6.6 percent, and ready-made food and other food products, which slowed to 3.7 percent from 3.9 percent.

In contrast, four food items showed an increasing inflation trend for low-income households: milk, other dairy products and eggs (4.4 percent), oils and fats (-8.7 percent), vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses (-7.4 percent), and sugar, confectionery and desserts (-2.7 percent).

The top contributors to the food inflation rate for low-income households were cereals and cereal products with 5.04 percentage points (107.2 percent share), vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses with 0.79 percentage points (16.8 percent share), and oils and fats with 0.14 percentage points (3.1 percent share).

Among all income households, the decline was also largely driven by a sharper drop in the prices of cereals and cereal products, with -11.1 percent in July compared with -8.5 percent the previous month, Losare said.

“The cereals and cereal products group contributed 62.1 percent to the overall food inflation for all income households,” Losare added.

Other commodities influencing the downtrend in food inflation for all income households included fish and other seafood, which fell to -0.3 percent from 1.3 percent, and meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals, which slowed to 4.2 percent from 6.0 percent.

Milk, other dairy products and eggs (4.0 percent), oils and fats (-6.1 percent), and sugar, confectionery and desserts (-1.8 percent) showed faster inflation trends, while ready-made food and other food products retained the previous month’s rate of 0.8 percent.

For all income households, the top contributors to the overall food inflation were cereals and cereal products with 3.79 percentage points (102.4 percent share), vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses with 0.98 percentage points (26.4 percent share), and oils and fats with 0.08 percentage points (2.0 percent share).

Food inflation in Western Visayas fell sharply from 8.2 percent in July 2024 to -2.1 percent in July 2025, reflecting easing food prices across the region.

Among the provinces, Aklan recorded the steepest drop from 11.0 percent to -6.4 percent, followed by Guimaras, which fell from 11.4 percent to -3.7 percent, Antique from 8.7 percent to -3.4 percent, Capiz from 8.0 percent to 0.3 percent, and Iloilo from 7.7 percent to -2.0 percent.

Iloilo City, the region’s sole highly urbanized city, remained relatively stable at 4.4 percent in July 2024 and 1.5 percent in July 2025.

“Most provinces began recording negative inflation starting in April 2025, indicating a continued decrease in food prices during the first half of the year,” Losare said.