The Department of Agriculture (DA) is closely tracking market rates for fish and produce following recent severe weather events.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel warned that heavy rainfall and flooding from the southwest monsoon and successive typhoons could lead to short-term price spikes.
“The bigger near-term concern is food inflation in high-value crops and fishery products, as flooding has damaged farms and fish ponds and disrupted the flow of goods to markets,” he said.
According to the DA-Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center, high-value crop losses span 4,869 hectares across eight regions, representing 22,415 metric tons of destroyed produce valued at ₱1.03 billion.
Damage to the fisheries sector—including equipment, vessels, dikes, and infrastructure—has reached ₱412.84 million.
Tiu Laurel pointed to secondary economic factors, noting that rising fuel costs are driving up transportation expenses.
“And habagat and the weaker peso are definitely not helping the DA’s effort to stabilize food prices,” he said.
The warnings come despite a drop in overall food inflation to 4.6 percent in August, down from 5.3 percent in July. Produce prices contracted by 3.4 percent after previously expanding by 8.4 percent, while fish inflation moderated to 6.6 percent. Conversely, rice inflation climbed to 19.4 percent.
Despite incurring ₱1.9 billion in crop damage representing 59,872 metric tons lost, national rice reserves remain secure.
“We have sufficient rice stocks because of the harvest and the front-loading of imports as we prepare for the impact of El Niño,” he said.
The agency confirmed it is preparing support measures to assist affected agricultural workers and mitigate market fallout.