Headline Inflation

Oriental Mindoro’s inflation rate for the bottom 30% income households slowed down to 3.4 percent in February 2025 from 4.0 percent in January 2025. Inflation in February 2024 was posted at 3.0 percent. (Tables 1, 2 and Figure 1)

Main Drivers to the Downward Trend of the Headline Inflation

The downtrend in the overall inflation for the bottom 30% income households in February 2025 was primarily influenced by the lower year-on-year growth in the heavily-weighted food and non-alcoholic beverages at 1.8 percent during the month from 3.0 percent in the previous month. Also contributing to the downtrend was transport with an annual decline of 0.9 percent during the month from 0.9 percent annual increase in January 2025. In addition, lower annual increase was recorded in clothing and footwear at 1.6 percent in February 2025 from 2.0 percent in the previous month.

Lower annual rates were also noted in the index of recreation, sport and culture at 5.4 percent during the month from 5.6 percent in January 2025.

Moreover, higher annual rates were recorded in the indices of the following commodity groups during the month:

a. alcoholic, beverages and tobacco, 12.9 percent from 12.6 percent;
b. housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, 8.4 percent from 6.9 percent;
c. furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance,
0.8 percent from 0.5 percent; and
d. health, 1.0 percent from 0.8 percent.

The indices of the rest of the commodity groups retained their respective previous month’s annual rates. (Figure 2)

Main Contributors to the February 2025 Headline Inflation

The following commodity groups were the top three contributors to the February 2025 overall inflation for the bottom 30% income households of the province:

a. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels with 44.2 percentage share or 1.50 percentage points;
b. Food and non-alcoholic beverages with 35.2 percent share or 1.20 percentage points; and
c. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 10.8 percent share or 0.37 percentage point.

Food Inflation

Food inflation for the bottom 30% income households in Oriental Mindoro eased to 1.7 percent in February 2025 from 3.0 percent in the previous month. In February 2024, food inflation was higher at 3.3 percent. (Table 3)

Main Drivers to the Downward Trend of Food Inflation

The deceleration of food inflation in February 2025 was primarily brought about by faster annual decline in the index of rice at 12.3 percent during the month from its annual decrease of 6.5 percent in January 2025.

In addition, lower inflation rates during the month were noted in the following food groups:

a. flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products, and other cereals, 1.7 percent from 2.4 percent;
b. milk, other dairy products and eggs, 2.0 percent from 2.6 percent;
c. vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses, 6.1 percent from
6.6 percent; and
d. ready-made food and other products n.e.c., 3.3 percent from 4.0 percent.

INFLATION RATE BY FOOD GROUP

In contrast, higher annual increases were noted in the following food groups:

a. corn, 3.3 percent from 1.9 percent;
b. meat and other parts of slaughtered land animals, 28.0 percent from 25.1
percent;
c. fish and other seafood, 1.5 percent from 0.1 percent; and
d. oils and fats, 26.4 percent from 21.3 percent.

In addition, slower annual decrease was observed in the index of sugar, confectionery and desserts at 1.3 percent during the month from a 2.2 percent annual decrement in January 2025. (Figure 3 and Table 3)

Main Contributors to Food Inflation

Food inflation contributed 32.0 percent or 1.1 percentage points to the February 2025 overall inflation of the bottom 30% income households.

Among the food groups, the main contributors to the food inflation during the month were the following:

a. meat and other parts of slaughtered land animal with 290.6 percent share or 4.9 percentage points;
b. vegetables, tubers, plantains, cooking bananas and pulses with 34.6 percent share or 0.6 percentage point; and
c. oils and fats with 31.7 percent share or 0.5 percentage point.

(SGD) CHARLYN ROMERO-CANTOS, PhD
(Chief Administrative Officer)
Officer-in-Charge
Oriental Mindoro Provincial Statistical Office

HTD/JGO

TECHNICAL NOTES

Consumer Price Index is an indicator of the change in the average prices of a fixed basket of goods and services commonly purchased by households relative to a base year.

Market Basket is a sample of goods and services, which is meant to represent the totality of all the goods and services purchased by households relative to a base year.

• To determine the commodities that will form the market basket for the 2018-based CPI, the Survey of Key Informants (SKI) was conducted in March 2021. The survey, which was conducted nationwide to store managers, sellers or proprietors, obtained information on the most commonly purchased of goods and availed of services by the households.

• Base year is a reference period, usually a year, at which the index number is set to 100. It is the reference point of the index number series. The CPI is rebased from base year 2012 to base year 2018.

• Inflation Rate is the annual rate of change or the year-on-year change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

• Purchasing Power of Peso is a measure of the real value of the peso in a given period relative to  chosen reference period. It is computed by getting the reciprocal of the CPI and multiplying the result by 100