The Department of Finance (DOF) urged authorities to be “more liberal” with importations after prices of meat and fish rose at a much faster pace in November compared with the previous month.

In an Economic Bulletin on Monday, Dec. 13, Finance Chief Economist Gil S. Beltran noted that meat prices rose 2.41 percent month-on-month in November as pork supply continued to fall below demand levels.

Princes of fish also jumped by 2.06 percent last month as the closed fishing season started, Beltran said.

“The high MOM inflation for meat and fish reminds authorities to adopt more liberal import measures to meet the peak demand during the holiday season,” Beltran said.

Latest data from the Department of Agriculture (DA) showed a slower pork import arrival with only a 42 percent utilization of the expanded pork minimum access volume (MAV) as of end-November.

At the same time, the unreleased inventory of frozen pork was reported at 76,953 metric tons.

The National Economic and Development Authority had said the slow importation and release of inventory, together with higher demand due to the Christmas season, led to higher average pork prices in November.

Meanwhile, the DA already approved the importation of 60,000 metric tons of fish in the last quarter of the year amid the closed fishing season in several coastal areas of the country.

The closed fishing season is imposed every year in the following areas: in Davao Gulf from June 1 to Aug. 31; the Visayan Sea from Nov. 15 to Feb. 15; the Sulu Sea from Dec. 1 to Feb. 28; and Northeast Palawan from November to January.

The country’s November headline inflation rate further decelerated to 4.2 percent, slowing down from 4.6 percent in October. For the first 11-months of the year, the average rate settled at 4.46 percent.

Food inflation eased from 5.65 percent in October to 4.15 percent in November with the deceleration in price inflation of the following: meat, 11.85 percent to 10.65 percent; fish, 9.46 percent to 7.91 percent; and vegetables, 11.39 percent to minus 1.85 percent.

However, non-food price inflation accelerated further from 3.85 percent in October to 4.10 percent last month, largely on account of: utilities and fuels sub-group, 11.13 percent to 12.32 percent; and the transport group, 7.06 percent to 8.84 percent.

The Dubai crude oil price averaged $79.80 per barrel in November, up from $42.58 in the same month of last year although down from $81.22 per barrel in October of this year.

The October Dubai oil price was the highest since November 2014.