PRICES of agricultural products procured from farmers continued to decline in the last quarter of 2023, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In a report the PSA released on Wednesday, the producer price index (PPI) for agriculture slowed to 3.1 percent in October to December 2023, down from the 7.9 percent recorded in the previous quarter.

"In the same quarter of the previous year, the annual growth rate of PPI for agriculture was recorded at 29.7 percent," it said.

Last year, the country's average annual growth rate for the agriculture price index was registered at 9.6 percent.

Quarter on quarter, the PPI contracted by 2.8 percent, narrowing from -0.1 percent three months earlier and reversing from 8.2 percent in October-December 2022.

Among the sectors, the PPI for crops slowed to 4.0 percent in the fourth quarter, a reversal from the 12.3 percent increase posted in July-September of the same year.

Four of the commodity groups posted annual decrements. Vegetables, in particular, posted a drop of 25.8 percent after growing 14.3 percent in the previous quarter.

Negative growth rates were also recorded for fruit vegetables (-25.6 percent from 14.3 percent), beans and legumes (-16.7 percent from 29.2 percent), and commercial crops (-15.4 percent from 11.0 percent).

Faster monthly increments, meanwhile, were registered in cereals at 15.2 percent from 12.5 percent and root crops at 20.3 percent from 15.3 percent.

The PPI of fruits also recovered with an 8.0 percent increase from the 3.4 percent decline in the previous quarter.

For crops, the PPI dropped to 4.4 percent quarter on quarter from a 0.7 percent increase in July-September.

The PPI for livestock and poultry posted an annual increase of 2.5 percent. This was attributed to a rebound for livestock, which grew 6.4 percent from the decline posted a quarter earlier.

Lastly, the PPI for fisheries contracted further to -6.1 percent from -2.1 percent due to declines posted in the four subsectors.

Negative growth rates were recorded for aquaculture (-7.0 percent from 1.4 percent), commercial fisheries (-6.5 percent from -0.9 percent), inland municipal fisheries (-11.4 percent from -20.7 percent), and marine municipal fisheries (-3.8 percent from -3.1 percent).