Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
Consumer prices rise 3.4%
At a Glance
- Inflation in the country rose to 3.4% in February following a four-month slowdown since September last year.
- This uptick was attributed to the increase in rice and meat prices, wherein the latter recorded a new record-high 23.7% increase, the highest since February 2009.
- The three rice sub-commodities, which are regular milled, well-milled, and special, all noted increases during February.
- The increase in rice inflation may continue until July or August this year.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the country’s four-month streak of slowing consumer prices was disrupted by a sharp increase in rice and pork prices, causing the inflation rate to spike to 3.4 percent in February.
Last month’s headline inflation rate was higher than the 2.8 percent back in January, but lower compared to the 8.6 percent recorded in the same month of 2023, based on the PSA data.
Rice prices played a huge role in the headline inflation increase which posted a 23.7 percent increase from the 22.6 percent in January.
“Our headline inflation of 3.4 percent, rice inflation contributed 1.6 percentage points of the 3.4 percent, so that’s about 47 percent. It’s like almost half of the inflation in February was due to rice,” PSA Undersecretary Claire Dennis Mapa said.
Rice inflation in February was also the highest in 14 years since the 24.6 percent recorded during the same month of 2009.
Poor households, at large, are the most vulnerable to the increase of rice prices as about 79 percent of its inflation rate came from rice prices.
PSA reported that the inflation rate for the bottom 30 percent income households increased to 4.2 percent in February, up from the record-low 3.6 percent.
According to PSA, the three rice sub-commodities it monitored (regular milled, well-milled, and special) all noted increases during February.
A kilogram of regular-milled rice had an average price of P50.44 during the month, higher than the P39.65 and P49.65 in February 2023 and January.
For well-milled rice, a kilogram would cost a consumer P55.93 in February compared to the P43.99 and P54.91 recorded previously.
As for the special rice, it soared to P64.42 last month from the P53.89 in February 2023 and P63.90 in January.
Mapa said the uptrend in rice inflation may continue to July or August this year due to the low base effect seen last year.
READ MORE: https://mb.com.ph/2024/2/6/poor-filipino-families-at-risk-from-impending-rice-price-surge-1
Meanwhile, the inflation of meat, particularly pork, also grew faster to 0.7 percent coming from a negative 0.7 percent in January as the African swine fever (ASF) continues to spread throughout the country.
The price increase in pork may be offset by a slower growth rate in fish and seafood which declined to 0.7 percent from 1.2 percent.
On the other hand, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said that international rice prices already started to ease as local supply is expected to increase from March to April with the Agriculture Department collaborating with the International Rice Research Institute.
Balisacan also reported that the next phase of the vaccine test for ASF is awaiting Food and Drug Administration approval.
Once the the vaccine is proven efficacious, the government will roll out a vaccination campaign to help ensure adequate pork supply in the country, he stated.
“Our team is actively formulating robust strategies with the concerned agencies in response to these challenges. We must be agile, adaptive, and forward-thinking,” the NEDA chief added.
— Xander Dave Ceballos
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Credit belongs to: www.mb.com.ph
