MANILA, Philippines — Prices of agricultural products sold by farmers and fisherfolks decelerated in the last quarter of 2021 due to slower growth in crops, livestock and poultry.
Latest figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the Producer Price Index (PPI) for agriculture dropped to 7.1 percent in October to December last year from 9.4 percent in the previous quarter.
This brings the national average growth rate of PPI for agriculture for the whole year at 8.4 percent.
The PPI for livestock and poultry continued its downward trend at 13.1 percent, slower than the 22.3 percent in the third quarter.
In particular, PPI for livestock slowed to 16.3 percent while that for poultry moved up at a faster pace of 6.9 percent.
The PSA also reported that the PPI for crops also slowed down to 6.5 percent in the last quarter from 7.3 percent.
Declines were recorded in the indexes of beans and legumes, condiments, root crops, and fruits and vegetables.
On the other hand, commercial crops and cereals grew during the period.
The PPI for fisheries continued its increase at 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter.
Marine municipal fisheries went up four percent but aquaculture and commercial fisheries slowed to 1.9 percent and nine percent, respectively.
However, inland municipal fisheries dropped further by 4.4 percent in the last quarter.
The PPI for Agriculture measures the average change over time of prices received by farmers, livestock and poultry raisers, and fisherfolks for the sale of their agricultural products relative to a base year.