General wholesale price index steady in October
Credit to Author: Anna Leah E. Gonzales| Date: Thu, 09 Jan 2020 13:00:18 +0000
THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Thursday that the General Wholesale Price Index (GWPI) at the country level stayed at 2.9 percent last October.
According to the statistics agency, the figure was higher than the 2.2 percent recorded in October 2018.
Among commodity groups, a higher annual markup of 2.1 percent was noted in the index of manufactured goods, classified chiefly by materials.
PSA said, however, that slower annual increases were observed in the indices of food, and beverages and tobacco at 3.5 percent and 13.2 percent, respectively.
Annual declines were also recorded in the indices of crude materials and inedible except fuels, 14.4 percent; mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, 12.8 percent; and chemicals including animal and vegetable oils and fats, 4.3 percent.
The indices of machinery and transport equipment and miscellaneous manufactured articles retained their corresponding previous month’s annual rates of 2.7 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.
In Luzon alone, the wholesale price index eased to 2.0 percent last October from 2.2 percent the month before, and 2.1 percent in October 2018.
Decreases were seen in crude materials, inedible except fuels; mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials; and chemicals including animal and vegetable oils and fats.
For the Visayas, the GWPI picked up to 2.4 percent from 1.6 percent the month before. In October last year, the wholesale price index reached 2.9 percent.
Upticks were recorded in the indices of food, and beverages and tobacco.
In Mindanao, the GWPI also accelerated to 1.0 percent from 0.6 percent in September. It was, however, lower than the 3.9 percent posted in October 2018.
An annual hike was seen in the index of beverages and tobacco.