July 2023 saw price increases in 32 out of the 45 primary consumer product categories, according to a report from the Consumer Protection Agency's Price Observatory. Concurrently, prices dropped in 13 categories.

• The overall increase, when compared to June 2023, stood at 1.21%. The agency attributes this largely to a 3% price rise in fresh and processed agricultural products.
• Among the products that witnessed significant hikes are vegetables (25.3%), frozen fish (2%-5.5%), sugar (3.7%), coffee (3.3%), and water (3.3%). Other products saw smaller increases.
• Notable decreases include liquefied gas cylinders (down by 5.7%), fresh fish (down 15%), evaporated/sweetened milk (down 2.8%), legumes (down 1.2%), and baby foods (also dropping by 1.2%).

The Agency also highlighted that these trends align with data from the Statistical Service, which indicates an 8.9% food inflation rate for January-July 2023, compared to the same period the previous year. Furthermore, the inflation rate for the first half of 2023 (January-June) was 8.75%.

For July 2023, total petroleum sales hit 128,527 tons, marking a 9.7% increase over July 2022. The breakdown is as follows:

• Airplane fuel supplies surged by 16.2%.
• Light and heavy fuel oil sales went up by 55.6% and 33.6%, respectively.
• Asphalt increased by 20%, gasoline by 8.9%, and diesel by 5.4%.
• On the downside, ship fuel supplies plummeted by 47.7%, and kerosene sales dropped 35.4%.

Petroleum sales from stations also reflected an upward trajectory, increasing by 8.6% to 56,316 tons.

However, when comparing July 2023 to June 2023, overall petroleum sales declined by 3.2%. For instance:

• Ship fuel supplies declined by 47.2%.
• Diesel sales dropped by 8.7%, and gasoline sales by 1.8%.
• Conversely, airplane fuel supplies rose by 15%.

Ending July 2023, total petroleum reserves experienced a 15.2% increase compared to the end of the previous month.

Lastly, total petroleum sales for the period from January to July 2023 decreased by 0.5% when compared to the same period in the previous year.