PHL wholesale price growth accelerates to 3% in 2025

WHOLESALE PRICE growth accelerated to 3% in 2025 led by chemicals including animal and vegetable oils and fats, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday, citing preliminary data.

The general wholesale price index (GWPI) had grown 2.5% in 2024, the PSA said.

The PSA said growth in the chemicals, including animal and vegetable oils and fats index, was 10.6% following a 4% reading in 2024.

The chemicals, including animal and vegetable oils and fats index, account for 10.1% of the wholesale basket of goods.

Other indices in 2025 posted slower growth, the PSA said.

“The yearly acceleration in wholesale prices brought by an accelerating chemicals and oils index may be attributed to continued agricultural disruptions, soaring demand for coconut oil, and higher fertilizer prices,” Marco Antonio C. Agonia, an economist at the University of Asia and the Pacific, said in an e-mail.

Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa, chief economist at Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., attributed the rise to higher palm oil and coconut oil prices.

“Inclement weather and other supply side bottlenecks pushed up the price for both commodities, resulting in the modest uptick in wholesale prices,” he said.

Global demand for coconut oil increased with prices surging 63.3% to $2,480 per metric ton in 2025, according to World Bank commodity price data, also known as the Pink Sheet, reported on Feb. 3.

Mr. Agonia added that global fertilizer prices also rose steadily throughout the year.

In December, bulk price growth eased to 1.9% year on year from 2.7% in November. The December 2024 reading had been 2.7%.

On a month-on-month basis, chemicals including animal and vegetable oils and fats rose 5.1% in December, slowing from 9% in November, the PSA said.

“Global commodity value chains were likely adjusting from the volatile spikes seen throughout the year, while the dismal Q4 and FY-2025 GDP readings tempered overall local demand,” Mr. Agonia said.

The PSA reported on Jan. 29 that gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 3% in the 4^th quarter. Slowing from the 5.3% reading a year earlier. The third-quarter 2025 result had been revised to 3.9%.

In 2025, the economy expanded 4.4%, much weaker than the 5.7% growth posted in 2024.

This was the weakest expansion in five years, after the pandemic caused GDP to decline 9.5% in 2020. Excluding the effects of the pandemic, the fourth-quarter reading was the weakest since the 3.9% posted in 2011.

In December, GWPI growth in Luzon was 1.8%, against 2.6% a month earlier. The December 2024 reading had been 2.8%. In 2025, Luzon GWPI growth averaged 3.1%, up from 2.4% posted a year ago.

GWPI growth in the Visayas for December was unchanged at 3.3%. The December reading was the strongest since the 5% posted in June 2024 and compares with the 1.7% reading in December 2024.

Bulk price growth in the Visayas grew 2.3% in 2025, the weakest reading since the 0.4% logged in 2021.

Mindanao GWPI growth in December was 2.7%, down from the 2.9% reading in November but up from the 1.1% posted in December 2024.

Mindanao bulk price growth in 2025 averaged 1.7%, unchanged from a year earlier and the weakest since the 1.6% recorded in 2020.

In January, Mr. Agonia said price movements were “broadly stable…. with a slight acceleration bias in wholesale price growth… as global and domestic value chains normalized operations and with firms looking to recover from weak economic activity last year.”

Mr. Mapa said wholesale prices may increase in the coming months if economic activity strengthens after the slowdown of late 2025. — Heather Caitlin P. Mañago