Agriculture prices down in Q2

MANILA, Philippines — The prices of agricultural products sold by farmers and fisherfolks decelerated in the second quarter due to slower growth in crops, livestock and poultry as well as the continued decline in fisheries.

Latest figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the Producer Price Index (PPI) for agriculture dropped to 7.1 percent in April to June from 8.2 percent in the previous quarter.

“This brings the national average growth rate of PPI for agriculture for the first half  to 7.6 percent,” the PSA said.

The PPI for livestock and poultry had a lower uptick of 16.9 percent in the second quarter, compared to the 23.7 percent growth in the first quarter.

“Lower annual hikes during the quarter were noted in the indices of livestock at 39.8 percent and poultry at 4.3 percent,” the PSA said.

Meanwhile, the PSA reported that the PPI for crops also slowed down to 8.7 percent in the second quarter from 8.9 percent the first quarter.

“Annual growth rates decreased further in the indices of cereals at -12.3 percent; and beans and legumes, at -3.1 percent,” the PSA said.

The annual growth rates also went down in the indices of root crops, fruit vegetables and leafy vegetables, while slowed increments were recorded in the indices of condiments and fruits.

In contrast, the index of commercial crops increased during the period to 25.3 percent.

The PPI for fishery continued its  decline at -12.8 percent in the second quarter.

However, this is lower compared to its 16 percent decline registered in the previous quarter.

“The annual growth of the index of commercial fishery rose to three percent during the quarter, after posting a double-digit annual decrease of -10.3 percent in the previous quarter,” the PSA said.

Lower annual decreases during the quarter were also seen in the indices of inland municipal fishery and marine municipal fisher at -11.5 percent and -5.7 percent, respectively.

Moreover, the index of aquaculture further moved down to -9.1 percent during the quarter.

The PPI for Agriculture measures the average change over time of prices received by farmers/livestock and poultry raisers/ fisherfolks for the sale of their agricultural products relative to a base year.