Guimaras Food Inflation Drops to 4.7%

The food inflation rate in Guimaras province eased to 4.7% in October 2024, down from 5.5% in September, reflecting a continued downward trend in food prices.

This decline was attributed to significant price reductions in key food commodities, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

“The slower inflation was primarily influenced by the deflation of fish and other seafood, which recorded a notable drop to -5.4% in October 2024 from 0.7% in September,” Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.

“This was due to the lower retail costs of fish—live, fresh, chilled, or frozen—which showed a deflation of -6.3% in October, compared to -0.5% the previous month,” Losare added.

Another contributing factor was the slower inflation in meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals, which decreased to 8.9% in October from 10.2% in September. This was driven by reduced market prices for pork, which registered an inflation rate of 16.8% in October, significantly lower than 22.6% in September.

Deflation in fruits and nuts also played a role, with inflation rates slowing to -5.7% in October from -3.1% in September. This was due to reduced market values for dates, figs, and tropical fruits, which posted a deflation of -6.2% in October, compared to -3.5% the prior month.

Other commodities with slower inflation in October included ready-made food and other food products, which dropped to 5.4% from 6.5%, and oils and fats, which posted a deflation of -0.9%, down from -0.7%.

However, some food items saw faster inflation in October compared to September:

• Cereals and cereal products: 20.2% from 18.8%.
• Milk, other dairy products, and eggs: 3.7% from 3.6%.
• Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses: -13.0% from -16.8%.
• Sugar, confectionery, and desserts: -5.5% from -8.3%.

The top three contributors to Guimaras’ overall food inflation were cereals and cereal products (113.3%, contributing 5.32 percentage points), meat and other slaughtered land animal parts (17.1%, contributing 0.80 percentage points), and milk, other dairy products, and eggs (4.0%, contributing 0.19 percentage points).

Guimaras Core Food Inflation

Core food inflation, which excludes selected food items, dropped to 0.0% in October 2024 from 1.1% in September, a significant improvement from 10.9% in October 2023.

Regional Food Inflation Trends

Food inflation across Western Visayas showed varied trends in October. Guimaras recorded a slower inflation rate of 4.7%, down from 5.5% in September and significantly lower than 9.0% in October 2023. This was driven by decelerating price changes in heavily weighted food items.

Aklan and Antique, however, saw inflation rise to 4.2% and 5.1%, respectively. Both provinces still improved compared to October 2023, when Aklan recorded 12.3% inflation and Antique had 7.6%.

In Capiz, food inflation slowed slightly to 5.7% from 5.9% in September, a marked decrease from 10.7% in October last year.

Iloilo’s inflation rose to 6.0%, while Negros Occidental experienced a modest increase to 3.5%. Both rates were lower than those recorded in October 2023. Iloilo City’s inflation edged up to 4.0%, while Bacolod City’s rate dropped to 2.6%, a significant decline from 9.3% in October 2023.

“Overall, while some provinces experienced rising inflation in October 2024, most performed better than the previous year, signaling progress in stabilizing food prices across the region,” Losare said.