PRICES of key commodities such as food, fuel and raw materials rose faster in September, driving up wholesale trade costs nationwide, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
The General Wholesale Price Index (GWPI) report showed that faster annual increments were recorded in food at 2 percent from 1.8 percent; beverages and tobacco at 4.2 percent from 4.1 percent; crude materials, inedible except fuels, at 54.8 percent from 40.2 percent; and mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials at 4.5 percent from 0.2 percent.
These increases contributed to the overall 2.9 percent year-on-year growth in the national GWPI in September 2025, higher than August’s 2.4 percent and September 2024’s 2 percent.
The PSA said the surge in wholesale prices was largely fueled by rising costs of chemicals, including animal and vegetable oils and fats, which climbed 9.7 percent from 8.1 percent the month prior.
Other sectors, however, registered slower increases. Prices of manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials eased to 0.2 percent from 0.6 percent, machinery and transport equipment slipped to 0.8 percent from 0.9 percent, and miscellaneous manufactured articles slowed to 0.1 percent from 0.4 percent.
Across regions, Luzon mirrored the national trend with a higher annual growth rate of 2.8 percent from 2.4 percent in August, mainly due to steeper price hikes in chemicals, animal and vegetable oils, and fats at 10.2 percent from 8.4 percent.
In contrast, the Visayas saw a slight deceleration, with wholesale prices growing 3.1 percent from 3.2 percent in August. The PSA attributed this to the slower increase in food prices at 4.5 percent from 4.8 percent.
Mindanao, meanwhile, posted an uptick in wholesale price growth, accelerating to 3 percent from 2 percent, as food prices rose sharply to 4.2 percent from just 1.1 percent a month earlier.
The GWPI measures changes in the price levels of commodities sold in bulk to intermediaries. It serves as an important gauge of price movements in the wholesale trade sector and is used as a deflator in national accounts to express real value by stripping out the effects of inflation.