THE cost of rice, a food staple among Filipinos, continued to accelerate as the inflation rate for the commodity rose to its fastest level in 15 years in February, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported yesterday.
Rice inflation quickened to 23.7% last month from 22.6% in January.
This is the fastest inflation print for the food staple since February 2009, when rice inflation was recorded at 24.6%.
National Statistician and PSA chief Claire Dennis Mapa said that “the price of rice in the world market continues to increase.”
“We also have a tight [local] supply,” Mapa said.
Moreover, the PSA chief said the faster rice inflation was due to the low base effect seen in January to July 2023, when inflation for the grain was relatively low.
“Mababa kasi ang rice inflation last year from January to July. Mababa ‘yung pinanggalingan niya,” he said.
The PSA chief said the Statistics agency monitored that the movements in the average prices of three main rice classes — regular milled, well-milled, and special — saw double-digit year-on-year increases.
For regular milled rice, Mapa said the average price was at P50.44 per kilogram in February 2024, up 27.2% from P39.65 per kilogram in February 2023.
The average price of well-milled rice saw a 27.1% increment to P55.93 per kilogram last month from P43.99 per kilogram year-on-year.
Special rice, on the other hand, saw its average price increase by 19.5% to P64.42 per kilogram from P53.89 per kilogram in the same month last year.
“Assuming there’ll be no reduction in price and the movement will continue, we should be expecting high rice inflation until July or August this year,” Mapa said.
National Economic and Development Authority secretary Arsenio Balisacan, meanwhile, said that “international rice prices have started to ease, and local supply is expected to increase with the dry season harvest beginning this month through April.”
Balisacan also said that the Department of Agriculture is collaborating closely with the International Rice Research Institute to increase the country’s rice production.
February Inflation Rises to 3.4%
The country’s inflation rate ended its four straight months of slowdown last month amid the faster rise in food, transport, and utilities costs.
Mapa said that inflation —which measures the rate of increase in goods and services— accelerated to 3.4% in February 2024, faster than the 2.8% rate in January.
Year-on-year, February’s inflation rate was slower than the 8.6% rate seen in the same month last year.
Last month’s inflation print snapped the four-month deceleration streak which began in October last year.
Year-to-date inflation rate stood at 3.1%, falling within the government’s ceiling of 2% to 4%.
February’s inflation rate also fell within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) forecast range of 2.8% to 3.6%.
The PSA chief said rice was the “major contributor” to the overall inflation, contributing 1.6 percentage points of the 3.4% overall inflation rate in February. (GMA Integrated News)
