Food price growth seen picking up in 2™ quarter

FOOD PRICE GROWTH is expected to accelerate in the second quarter, as higher oil prices begin to flow through into the prices paid by consumers via elevated transport and farm production costs, analysts said.

- By Vonn Andrei E. Villamiel

Danilo V. Fausto, president of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food, Inc., said prices and supply of food and agricultural commodities are likely to remain steady in the first quarter but could accelerate afterward.

“This will pose a problem in the second quarter. Prices will be affected because of transport costs brought about by increases in oil prices and fertilizer costs,” he told Business World via Viber.

Mr. Fausto said the surge in agricultural production costs, coupled with a weaker peso, will result in upward pressure on food retail prices beginning next month.

Raul Q Montemayor, national manager of the Federation of Free Farmers, said the impact of rising input costs will have a bigger impact on the next harvest season, but consumers may already be feeling price pressures earlier due to market speculation.

“We will see the impact in the next harvest later this year, although prices will start to creep up before that due to speculation about lower output and higher costs of production,” he told Business World via Viber.