Guimaras’ food inflation moves quicker to 4.4% in March 2022

The annual rate of change in food prices in Guimaras moved quicker in March 2022 from 3.2% to 4.4% in March 2022, disclosed by the data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority.

“Comparing the annual food inflation trends of Guimaras Province for thirteen (13) months from March 2021 to March 2022, the recorded inflation rate is on an uptrend from –2.5% in March 2021 to a high of 9.4% in January 2022,” Provincial Statistical Officer Nelida B. Losare said.

Losare also expounded that January 2022 saw the highest food inflation rate recorded at 9.4% but significantly dropped to 3.2% in February, then moved a bit faster in March at 4.4%, which is faster than the recorded –2.5% inflation in March 2021 and 1.2 percentage points faster than February 2022. (See Figure 1).

The eight food commodity group items that recorded higher annual mark-ups in March 2022 and contributed to the faster movement of the inflation rate were the following (See Table 1):

• Cereals and Cereal Products at –2.4%, from –10.5%
• Meat at 10.8%, from 6.2% of the previous year
• Fish at 7.5%, from 4.5%
• Milk, Cheese, and Eggs at 3.7%, from 1.5%
• Fruits at 10.4%, from –9%
• Vegetables at 7.7%, from –7%
• Sugar, Jam, Honey, Chocolate, and Confectionery at 10.7%, from –3%; and
• Food Product N.E.C. at 4.8%, from 2.6%

“The inflation rate on non-alcoholic beverages, on the other hand, recorded an annual rate of change of 7.5 percent in March 2022, which was faster than the rate of change recorded in February 2022 at 7.1 percent, Losare said.

In terms of the monthly rate of change, inflation in March 2022 rose to 0.3 percent from the –2.8 percent a month ago, fueled by the faster price movements of seven food commodity items:

• Cereals and Cereal Products at 0.6%, from –0% in February 2022
• Fish at –5%, from –2.4%
• Milk, Cheese, and Eggs at 1.6%, from 0.1%
• Oils and Fats at 0.9%, from –4%
• Fruits at 3.4%, from 0.8%
• Vegetables at –4%, from –20.3%, and
• Sugar, Jam, Honey, Chocolate, and Confectionery at 2.0%, from 1.4%

However, despite the increment in the monthly food inflation in March 2022, two food commodity items managed to deflate, namely:

• Meat at 1.4% from 2.2%
• Food Products N.E.C. at –1.2% from 0.6%

Losare also emphasized that the 4.0% inflation rate in January 2022 was the fastest food inflation for 13 months which soared by 1.6 percentage points from a low of 2.4% in December 2021 due to the price increments of all food commodity items. However, the inflation rate significantly decreased to –2.8% in February 2022.

The month-on-month inflation rate is the monthly change in the Consumer Price Index relative to the previous month in the current year, while the year-on-year is the rate of change in the Consumer Price Index in a specific period of the current year relative to the same period in the previous year, Losare added.