Sluggish rice cost drives Guimaras’ food inflation to 9.2 in Sept ’22

The lingering rice cost dragged food inflation in Guimaras to 9.2 percent in September 2022, which is 2.9 percentage points lower than the 12.1 percent inflation rate in August 2022, based on the Retail Price Survey of Commodities for the Generation of Consumer Price Index of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Year-on-year price decreases in food items were driven by rice (2.0%), which accounted for 39.7 percent of food inflation in September 2022; vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas, and pulses (24.1%); and meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals (14.2%), which accounted for 31.0 and 16.1 percent of food inflation in September 2022, respectively.

“Other food items that contributed to the decrement in food inflation in September 2022 were: fish and other seafood (8.2%); ready-made food and other products not elsewhere classified (n.e.c) (4.2%); and corn (16.5%),” said Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare.

The data also showed that food inflation accelerated for 6 months, from 3.2 percent in February 2022 to 12.1 percent in August of the same year, before dropping to 9.2 percent in September 2022, the first time it decelerated after the 6-month surge. (See Figure 1)

Food inflation rates for 2021 demonstrated rising rates, starting at 0.9 percent in September and continuously rising until 5.4 percent inflation in December, the highest level of inflation for the year, (See Figure 1.)

“In 2022, food inflation showed a continuous uptrend from March to August, following the abrupt 3.2 percent drop in February from the fastest rate of 9.4 in January,” Losare said.

Losare noted that “the average food price changes for the first nine months of the current year stood at 8.0 percent, the highest average food inflation since 2019, while the slowest average food inflation was seen in 2021 at -0.3%.”

“The highest food inflation rate in 2022 was at 11.9% and 12.1% recorded in July and August, respectively, while the highest rate in 2019, was at 8.6% in the first three months, 5.1 percent in April 2020, and 5.4 percent in December 2021,” Losare added. (See Table 3)