Food, Beverages and Tobacco (FBT) and Non-FBT Items
(NCR and AONCR - October 2007)

1. CPI of Food, Beverages and Tobacco (FBT): National Capital Region (NCR) and Areas Outside the National Capital Region (AONCR)
   

   The seasonally adjusted CPI of FBT in NCR and AONCR correspondingly picked up to 133.7 and 137.6 in October from their respective September levels of 133.3 and 136.6.

   The rains experienced during the early part of October delayed deliveries of vegetables in the NCR markets resulting to upward price adjustments of vegetables during the month. Higher prices of fruits not in season were also noted. In addition, higher prices of fish were observed as its supply in the markets was affected by the difficulty in catching fish species due to unfavorable water conditions. These seasonal factors pushed up prices of FBT items in NCR. Meanwhile, these seasonal factors did not affect the overall prices of FBT items in AONCR relative to the expected trend as higher prices of these items were offsetted by the decreases in the prices of rice and corn. The on-going harvest season of palay in many regions and the favorable weather condition that resulted to the good production of corn contributed to the offsetting effect.

   Compared with last month, price increments of seasonally adjusted CPI of FBT items in NCR and AONCR were correspondingly recorded at 0.3 percent and 0.7 percent, slower than their last month’s growth of 0.8 percent.

2. CPI of Non-FBT items: National Capital Region (NCR) and Areas Outside the National Capital Region (AONCR)

The seasonally adjusted CPI of non-FBT items in NCR decelerated to 154.1 in October from 154.2 in September. On the other hand, the seasonally adjusted CPI for non-FBT items in AONCR posted at 147.2 in October was higher than its level of 146.8 in September. Seasonal factors such as the production of selected goods in preparation for the holiday season resulting to adequate supply of goods in the markets pushed down prices of non-FBT items in NCR. However, this seasonal factor did not pull down prices of non-FBT items in AONCR.

The month-on-month inflation of the seasonally adjusted CPI for non-FBT items in NCR still posted a negative rate of 0.1 percent in October from -0.3 percent in September. On the other hand, prices of seasonally adjusted CPI for non-FBT items in AONCR registered an increase of 0.3 percent from zero growth last month.

For technical notes and other related information,
please visit:
http://www.census.gov.ph
or contact the Economic Indicators and Indices Division, NSO
at telephone number 716-3935

Page last updated: November 6, 2007