The prices of agricultural commodities, notably rice, saw increases again during the last days of February, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.

Based on the PSA price situationer, a kilogram of regular milled rice increased to P50.63 during February 15 to 17 from P50.34 during the first days of the month.

A fresh pork liempo also posted a higher average retail price of P346.59 per kilogram during the period from P344.13 in the first days of the month and P344.72 during the second phase of January.

A sour end in February as the price of a kilogram of calamansi soared to P84.75, higher than the average retail prices of P82.06 and P77.29 in early February and late January.

Coming from a significant increase in early February was Filipino staple tilapia which cost P167.62 per kilogram in late February, down from P169.02 recorded in the previous period.

The price of a kilogram of eggplant also declined to P86.18, which was way lower than P90.96 per kilogram in the first phase of February and P91.51 in the second phase of January.

Likewise, red onion posted a notable price decrease of P163.11 per kilogram, down from P174.91 and P188.37 as recorded previously by PSA.

A kilogram of brown sugar cost P76.52 during the period, which was slightly lower than the average retail prices of P76.95 per recorded in early February and P78.10 in late January.

Economists so far see inflation this year align with the government target band of 2 to 4 percent, as several groups of commodities saw slow growth in prices for the past months except for rice.

An uptrend in the price growth of rice has alerted government officials, especially with the El-Niño drought hitting the country until the next months.

In January, rice inflation was recorded at 22.6 percent from 19.6 percent in December of last year.