By TED CORDERO,GMA News

Inflation rate for the Philippines’ staple grain food returned to positive territory in March after 14 months in the negative as transportation costs for rice rose amid the global fuel price shock due to the Middle East war.

At a press briefing on Tuesday, National Statistician and Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Undersecretary Claire Dennis Mapa reported that inflation for rice clocked in at 3.6% from a deflation of -3.4% in February.

“The inflation rate for rice is now positive after a long period of negative inflation since January 2025,” Mapa said.

Rice inflation had been consistently in the negative for the whole of 2025 in line with the PSA’s expectations of easing due to base effects as well as the impact of lower rice import tariff which took effect early July 2024.

Latest price monitoring from the Department of Agriculture showed the per kilo price of regular, well-milled, and premium rice varieties stood at P43.28, P47.95, and P58.90, respectively.

In the same period last year, the prices of regular, well-milled, and premium rice varieties were P38.59 per kilo, P44.70 per kilo, and P51.63 per kilo, respectively.

The PSA chief said the return of rice inflation to positive territory was “because of the increase in transportation due to the increase of prices in diesel and gasoline.”

Overall inflation rate grew to 4.1% in March, its fastest in 20 months, primarily due to the Transport index’s reversal to 9.9% inflation from a 0.3% decline in February on the back of increments seen in gasoline (27.3% from -5.7%) and diesel (59.5% from -1.3%). — VDV GMA News

Published Date: April 7, 2026