Guimaras Food Inflation Climbs to 4.8% in 2024

The food inflation rate in Guimaras province surged to 4.8% in December 2024 from 2.4% in November 2024, bringing the provincial average food inflation for the year to 7.9%. The December 2024 rate also exceeded the 7.3% recorded in December 2023.

Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare attributed the acceleration in December 2024 food inflation primarily to the price increase of vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses. Inflation in this category jumped to 14.2% from 0.0% in the previous month, accounting for 48% of the food inflation trend in December 2024.

Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals also contributed to the inflation increase, with rates rising to 5.3% in December from 1.5% in November. This category accounted for 23.4% of the December 2024 food inflation trend.

Fruits and nuts showed a faster inflation rate of -3.1% compared to -11.1% in November 2024.

Other commodities with higher inflation rates in December 2024 compared to November included fish and other seafood, which moved to -7.1% from -8.2%, and oils and fats, which increased to -1.1% from -1.3%.

Conversely, some food items recorded slower inflation in December 2024 than in November:

• Cereals and cereal products: 13.6%, down from 14.7%.
• Milk, other dairy products, and eggs: 3.8%, down from 4.0%.
• Sugar, confectionery, and desserts: -5.8%, down from -5.5%.

Cereals and cereal products were the largest contributors to overall December 2024 food inflation, accounting for 94.9% or 4.6 percentage points. Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses contributed 18.6% or 0.9 percentage points, while meat and other slaughtered land animal products contributed 12.7% or 0.6 percentage points.

Core Food Inflation in Guimaras

Core food inflation in Guimaras, which excludes selected volatile food items, rose to 3.5% in December 2024 from 0.3% in November. This was slightly lower than the 3.7% core food inflation recorded in December 2023.

Food Inflation Trends in Western Visayas

Food inflation across Western Visayas experienced fluctuations in 2023 and 2024, with notable variations in provinces and highly urbanized cities (HUCs).

In December 2023, Aklan recorded the highest food inflation at 10.4%, followed by Antique at 7.4%, Iloilo at 7.2%, Capiz at 7.1%, Guimaras at 7.3%, and Negros Occidental at 6.9%. Bacolod City and Iloilo City recorded lower rates.

In 2024, Aklan’s inflation rate peaked at 11.9% in June before declining to 0.2% by December. Antique recorded its highest rate at 11.5% in April, dropping to 1.3% in December. Capiz peaked at 8.3% in June and fell to 4.9% in December.

Iloilo reached its highest inflation rate of 7.8% in May and decreased to 3.1% by December. Guimaras peaked at 11.6% in April and May before ending the year at 4.8%. Negros Occidental peaked at 7.5% in April and ended at 2.8%, while Bacolod City followed a similar trend, peaking at 7.4% in June and closing the year at 0.9%.

Iloilo City experienced a relatively steady decline, dropping from 4.4% in December 2023 to 4.2% in December 2024, with a brief dip to 1.8% in February.

While food inflation across the region saw sharp peaks in 2024, most provinces and HUCs exhibited a general downward trend toward the end of the year.