30 October 2024– Guimaras. The food inflation rate in Guimaras province slowed to 5.5% in September from 7.3% in August due to the sluggish retail prices of Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals, with 10.2% from 17.5% inflation and Vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses, with -16.8% from -4.0% inflation, based on the latest price data released by the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA).

“The slower inflation of meat and vegetable commodities driven by meat of pigs, fresh, chilled or frozen with 22.6% inflation and tomatoes, fresh or chilled with -46.7% inflation, respectively,” Provincial Statistics Officer Nelida B. Losare said.

In contrast, food items with faster inflation in September against August 2024 were observed in Cereals and cereal products,18.8% from 18.7%; Fish and other seafood, 0.7% from -1.1%; Milk, other dairy products and eggs, 3.6% from 2.6%; Oils and fats, -0.7% from -3.8%; Fruits and nuts, -3.1% from -4.1%; Sugar, confectionery and desserts, -8.3% from -8.7 %; and Ready-made food and other products 6.5% from 6.2%.

Meanwhile, the top three commodity groups that contributed to the September 2024 overall food inflation rate include Cereals and cereal products, with a 94.3 percent contribution or 5.19 percentage points; Meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals with 17.5 percent contribution or 0.96 percentage points; and Milk, other dairy products and eggs with 3.5 percent contribution or 0.19 percentage points.

Losare also highlighted that core food inflation, which excludes selected food items, decreased to 1.1 percent in September 2024 from 3.2 percent in the previous month. In September 2023, core food inflation was higher at 12.0 percent. (Table 1).

Comparing food inflation rates by province in Region VI, Capiz showed the highest food inflation, followed by Guimaras and Iloilo. Lower food inflation was noted in the provinces of Antique, Aklan and Negros Occidental. See Figure 2.