Diesel prices keep posting double-digit hikes By Lenie Lectura
D
IESEL prices continue to rise sharply. On Monday, Seaoil announced an increase of P12.5 per liter for diesel while Jetti Petroleum will hike diesel by P12.90 per liter. Seaoil is also increasing kerosene prices by P2 per liter. However, it announced a temporary pause in gasoline price hikes. No reason was provided. On the other hand, Jetti will raise gasoline prices by P1 per liter. Petron Corporation is implementing the following price adjustments: P1.90 per liter for gasoline, P11.90
WORLD » A15
EGYPT’S EARLY CLOSING ORDER JOLTS CAIRO’S NIGHT LIFE AS WAR-DRIVEN OIL COSTS SOAR
ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDS
2006 National Newspaper of the Year 2011 National Newspaper of the Year 2013 Business Newspaper of the Year 2017 Business Newspaper of the Year 2019 Business Newspaper of the Year 2021 Pro Patria Award PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY 2018 Data Champion
per liter for diesel and P1.40 per liter for kerosene. Separately, the DOE said the Philippine National Oil Company-Exploration Corporation (PNOC-EC) has secured deliveries of up to 1.042 million barrels of diesel, equivalent to 165,678,000 liters, through April. The deliveries are scheduled in phases. The first shipment, consisting of 142,000 barrels or 22,578,000 liters from Japan, arrived in the Philippines last March 26. The remaining deliveries are set to arrive as follows: n 300,000 barrels (47,700,000 liters) from Malaysia/Singapore— early April.
n 300,000 barrels (47,700,000 liters) from North Asia/India—midApril. n 300,000 barrels (47,700,000 liters) from Oman/Singapore—end April. “By securing these deliveries and scheduling their arrival through April, we are reinforcing domestic supply, supporting critical sectors, and helping ensure that the country remains responsive and resilient amid continued uncertainty in the global oil market,” said DOE Secretary Sharon Garin. Other oil companies have yet to announce their price adjustments as of press time.
Oil firms adjust their pump prices every week to reflect movements in the world oil market. Last week, gasoline prices went up anywhere from P9 to over P10 per liter, diesel by P16 to nearly P18 per liter, while kerosene prices went up by over P20 per liter. Some oil firms implemented the price hikes on a daily basis. Petron Corporation said over the weekend that it has procured a total of 2.48 million barrels of crude oil sourced from Russia. “We have healthy supplies of finished products,” that will last up to June 30,” Petron president Ramon Ang said. See “Diesel,” A17
BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business
EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS
BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR
(2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
2018 BANTOG MEDIA AWARDS
EXPERTS TRACKING OIL SHOCKS PASS-THROUGH www.businessmirror.com.ph
n
Tuesday, March 31, 2026 Vol. 21 No. 170
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 28 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
By Andrea E. San Juan
F
@andreasanjuan
INANCIAL institutions are now keeping an eye on how fast war-driven oil price shocks will transmit into food and transport prices in the Philippines after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) signaled that it cannot raise its key policy rate yet as this could delay economic recovery. While these institutions provided mixed views on how the central bank’s monetary policy stance will unfold in the coming months, they were on the same page when they signaled that the Philippines relies heavily on imported energy and food, which means it’s only a matter of time when the oil price shocks would feed into the prices of food and transportation, among others. For one, while BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, expects the BSP to hold rates steady at 4.25 percent through 2026, it did not ignore the possibility of secondround inflationary pressures prompting the Philippines’s central bank to raise its See “Oil,” A2
PEDALING FOR THE PLANET Bikers gather at SM City San Mateo on Saturday, March 28, 2026, for a neon-lit advocacy night ride around San Mateo, Rizal, in support of the global Earth Hour celebration. Participants illuminate the streets with vibrant lights as they promote environmental awareness, sustainable mobility, and collective action toward energy conservation. The activity underscores the growing role of community-driven initiatives in advancing climate responsibility and protecting the planet. NONOY LACZA
Costly fertilizer seen cutting rice, corn output STAGFLATION A REAL RISK By Ada Pelonia
T
@adapelonia
HE uptick in fertilizer prices due to the Middle East conflict could dent the Philippines’s rice and corn production this year, an international research firm said. BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions, has projected that the country’s rice and production will decline by 0.6 and 0.7 percent, respectively. Rice production (in milled rice terms) might reach 12.3 million metric tons (MMT), from the estimated output of 12.37 MMT last year while corn production could slide to 8.27 MMT, from last year’s
8.331 MMT. BMI made the forecast after flagging the effects of a prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz on the fertilizer industry, prices, and application. Fertilizer is a key farm input for staple grains, such as rice and corn. “The continued shipment halt through the Strait of Hormuz and subsequent sulphur squeeze are triggering a domino effect across commodities markets beyond just the energy sector, including the fertilizer market,” it said in a report. The Middle East accounts for around 24 percent of global sulphur production.
“Sulphur prices, poised for an uptrend, together with choked-off supplies, indispensable for fertilizer, are unveiling hidden risks and acute vulnerabilities throughout industrial supply chains, driving up costs and tightening availability,” BMI said. “Should the conflict prove prolonged, the potential for far-reaching second-order effects across the fertilizer market will only intensify.” In February, a World Bank report showed that average quotations for fertilizers such as DAP and urea recorded increases. The price of DAP grew by 3.76 percent to $626.5 per metric ton (MT) from $603.8
per MT last month, while urea went up by 8.13 percent to $472 per MT from $436.5 per MT a year ago. Prices of these fertilizers have been on an upward trend for the past three months, based on World Bank data, with the United States-Iran conflict in the Middle East threatening to fuel price surges. While local fertilizer supply remains sufficient, the Department of Agriculture is eyeing allocating P500 million to procure biofertilizers—an alternative to synthetic fertilizers—to cushion the impact of surging imported fertilizer prices on Filipino farmers’ production.
FOR ECONOMY–HABITO By Justine Xyrah Garcia
A
S the Philippines continues to bear the brunt of rising oil prices amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East, a former National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) director general warned on Monday that the economy could be at risk of stagflation. Ex-Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cielito F. Habito said the impact is expected to be felt across “presyo, trabaho, kita [prices, jobs, incomes]”—a convergence of pressures that, he
warned, reflects early signs of stagflation. Habito explained that rising global oil prices are beginning to drive up domestic costs, with higher fuel prices feeding into transport expenses and, in turn, pushing up the prices of basic goods, including food. He added that mounting wage pressures could follow, as workers demand higher pay to cope with rising costs—raising the risk of a wage-price spiral, where higher wages push businesses to increase prices further, fueling See “Stagflation,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 60.3870 n JAPAN 0.3772 n UK 80.1758 n HK 7.7093 n CHINA 8.7378 n SINGAPORE 46.8516 n AUSTRALIA 41.4557 n EU 69.4571 n KOREA 0.0400 n SAUDI ARABIA 16.0937 Source: BSP (March 30, 2026)