Rice retail price down, meat up in mid-January

THE retail price of rice declined year on year in mid-January, while meat and galunggong (round scad) prices increased, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

During the Jan. 15-17 period, which the PSA calls the second phase of January, the national average retail price of regular milled rice declined 9.56% year on year to P43.52 per kilo.

The second-phase price was higher than the P43.13-per-kilo average during the first phase of January (Jan. 1-5) and the P42.10 average a month earlier.

The highest average retail price of regular-milled rice in the second phase was recorded in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao at P50.06 per kilo, down 0.72% from a year earlier.

The lowest retail price of regular milled rice was reported in the Cagayan Valley at P36.70 per kilo, down 13.5% from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the retail price of bone-in fresh pork averaged P314.04 per kilo in the second phase of January, up 1.5% from a year earlier. The national average declined from the P315.44 per kilo recorded in the first phase of January and P314.72 a month earlier.

The retail price of dressed chicken averaged P213.35 per kilo in the second phase of January, up 1% from a year earlier. The average retail price for the period was lower than the P213.72 per kilo recorded during the first phase of January, but higher than the P212.40 a month earlier.

Galunggong prices rose 11.32% year on year to P251.35 per kilo in the second phase of January. The average price of the staple fish declined from P252.75 in the first phase of January and increased from P249.11 a month earlier. — Vonn Andrei E. Vilamiel