DAVAO CITY – The inflation in the five provinces of Davao region – Davao Oriental, Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental, Davao del Norte, and Davao de Oro – slowed down in August, except for this city.
Maria Leah C. Magracia, officer-in-charge of the Statistical Operation and Coordination Division of the Philippine Statistics Authority-Davao, said Davao City’s inflation accelerated to five percent last month from 4.4 percent in July.
She said the rest of the province experienced decelerating inflation, with Davao Oriental posting a 6.8 percent inflation in August from 7.4 percent in July; Davao del Sur, six percent from 6.4 percent; Davao Occidental, 4.8 percent from 5.6 percent; Davao del Norte, 3.8 percent from 4.7 percent, and Davao de Oro, 2.6 percent from 4.4 percent.
Magracia added that the inflation rate in the Davao region decelerated to 4.1 percent in August, one percent lower than the 5.1 percent in July.
From January to August, she said that the average consumer price index was estimated at 4.8 percent.
She attributed the decrease to the slower movement in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages to 6.6 percent in August from 7.8 percent in July.
Magracia said prices of cereals and cereal products moved at a slower rate at 15 percent in August from 17.3 percent in July; vegetables, tubers, and cooking bananas, seven percent in August from 14.8 percent in July; and fish and other seafood, -0.6 percent in August from one percent in July.
She also attributed lower inflation to transportation, which declined to -1.1 percent from four percent in July, owing to decreasing cost of gasoline (-7.6 percent from 5.3 percent), diesel (-12.4 percent from 6.7percent), and passenger transport by sea (-26.4 percent from 19 percent).
Magracia added that alcoholic and tobacco slowed down to five percent in August from 7.8 percent in July; clothing and footwear (five percent from 5.3 percent); furnishings, household equipment, and routine household maintenance, 4.5 percent from 4.8 percent; health, 3.3 percent from 3.8 percent; recreation, sport, and culture, 5.1 percent from 5.2 percent; education services, 7.9 percent from 9.8 percent; restaurants and accommodation services, 6.5 percent from 6.6 percent; and personal care, miscellaneous goods, and services, 3.9 percent from 4.7 percent.
She said that housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels posted a higher inflation at 4.3 percent in August from -0.2 percent in July, while financial services remained the same at 0.1 percent.
The top five contributors to the August inflation were rice at 20.4 percent; restaurants, cafe, and the like at 6.4 percent; electricity at 9.7 percent; rentals at 2.5 percent; and other passenger transport by road at 4.2 percent.
Davao Agri Trade Expo
The Davao Agri Trade Expo 2024 kicks off here on Thursday, September 19.
Paolo Claudio, event chairperson, said that the expo with the theme “Agriculture 4.0: Transforming Agribusiness in the Digital Age” will be held until September 21 at the SMX Convention Center.
Organizers are expecting around 10,000 visitors in the three-day expo that will feature innovative technologies and practices that seek to enhance agriculture and increase production.
The biggest and longest-running agriculture trade event in Southern Mindanao will highlight precision and smart agriculture, big data analytics, blockchain technology technology, AI and machine learning, robotics and automation in farming, and climate-smart agriculture.
“We want to harness the power of technology to be efficient…We want the agriculture to be sexy again, so we also encourage the youth to go back to agriculture. Agriculture is getting sexier because there is no way other than people eating food. You need volume,” Claudio said.
He said that the region needs agriculture for its continued growth as the demand for agriculture is consistently growing.
“As you all know, Davao region is growing. Our agricultural needs are growing. These kinds of interests are growing,” he said, referring to the focus on the region’s agricultural industry.
The expo will have technical seminars, business matching sessions, conferences, and 78 booths for exhibitors.
He said that participants in the expo include, among others, farmers, technology providers, researchers, policymakers, investors, exporters, and representatives of various foreign groups such as India, Germany, and Denmark.
During the expo, speakers from the regional offices of Department of Agriculture, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Trade and Industry, and Department of Tourism will provide the outlook and trends for Davao region from the public sector perspective.