Guimaras Food Inflation Drops to 0.6% in February

The food inflation rate in Guimaras province fell to 0.6% in February 2025, down from 4.3% in January 2025. This brought the province’s average food inflation for January and February 2025 to 2.4%. In comparison, the food inflation rate in February 2024 was 9%.

The decline in food inflation last month was mainly driven by lower prices of cereals and cereal products, which saw a 4.2% inflation rate in February, down from 12.7% in January. These products accounted for 74.6% of the province’s food inflation rate in February.

“The price deceleration of cereals and cereal products was particularly driven by rice, except NFA rice, with regular milled rice recording a 5.1% inflation rate in February 2025, significantly lower than 16.8% in the previous month,” Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.

Meat and other slaughtered land animal products saw inflation drop to 6.4% in February, down from 10.5% in January. Meanwhile, vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses had a significant impact on the overall downtrend, with their inflation rate declining from 11.7% in January to 1% in February.

“Slower-moving retail prices of fresh, chilled, or frozen pork, which had a 6.6% inflation rate in February compared to 13.1% in January, and fresh or chilled tomatoes, which saw inflation drop to -20.7% from 107.3% in January, also contributed to the overall decline,” Losare explained.

Other food groups that recorded slower inflation in February compared to January included:

• Oils and fats: -3.8% from -1.1%
• Milk, other dairy products, and eggs: -8.6% from -8.3%
• Fruits and nuts: -0.5% from -0.2%

However, some food categories saw a faster rate of inflation in February compared to January:

• Fish and other seafood: -8.3% from -8.6%
• Sugar, confectionery, and desserts: -2.4% from 4.6%
• Ready-made food and other food products n.e.c.: 4.8% from 3.8%

Guimaras Core Food Inflation

Core food inflation, which excludes rice, corn, meat, fresh or frozen fish, and vegetables cultivated for their fruit or roots, decreased to 1.6% in February 2025 from 2.5% in January 2025. In February 2024, core food inflation was higher at 3.1%.

Guimaras recorded the sharpest decline in food inflation, dropping from a peak of 11.6% in April and May 2024 to 0.6% in February 2025.

Among other Western Visayas provinces, Aklan (1.3%), Antique (-1.2%), and Negros Occidental (0.1%) also saw significant reductions in food inflation. Meanwhile, Capiz (5.2%) and Iloilo (4.8%) maintained moderate inflation rates.

In highly urbanized areas, Iloilo City recorded a relatively high food inflation rate of 4.3%, while Bacolod City experienced a more moderate rate at 2.6%.