Monsoon pushes up veggie retail prices by P10/kilo

MANILA, Philippines – The southwest monsoon that brought heavy rains and floods to Metro Manila and several other provinces also caused vegetable retail prices to increase by as much as P10 per kilo.

In an August 14 report, the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (Bas) said the torrential rains that caused floods which caused delays in the delivery of produce significantly increased whosesale prices between August 1 to 9.

“The quotation of P15 per kilogram of pechay Baguio last week rose to P22 this week. Likewise, cabbage, carrots, habitchuelas, chayote and white potato registered 7% up to 33% price increments relative to previous week’s prices. All these translated to a P10 per kilogram add-on at the retail trade,” the BAS said.

The BAS added that pinakbet vegetables also became more expensive this week as prices of leafy vegetables like kangkong, pechay native and sili tops doubled.

Fish retail prices up

The report stated that while bangus and tilapia remained abundant in all markets, the supply of almost all captured species became limited.

The BAS said this prompted retail prices to move up by 10% for anchovies or dilis and 40% for blue crabs or alimasag.

Meanwhile, the BAS said the fruit market was amlpy supplied with in-season fruits like avocado, atis, santol, and bananas.

It added that prices of rice, sugar, cooking oil, meat products and chicken were generally stable as supply adequately met consumer needs. – Rappler.com