Milk, bread prices to go down to reflect oil price cuts–DTI
MANILA, Philippines—Manufacturers of milk and bread have agreed to decrease their suggested retail prices to reflect the softening of oil prices in the global market, the Department of Trade and Industry said on Wednesday.
In a statement, the DTI has announced that Nestle Philippines would decrease the SRP of its Bear Brand powdered milk of 150 grams by P1, while community bakers are meanwhile mulling to either decrease its “pan de sal” price by 15 centavos apiece or increase the weight of 2 grams each.
According to the DTI, the price of pan de sal from community bakeries across the country ranged from P2 to P2.50 apiece with a corresponding weight range of 25-30 grams.
“Through the DTI, our organization was made aware of the decreasing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices that prompted us to act immediately.
“Now I encourage other community bakers, particularly those that use LPG in their operations, to make their move to either bring down their price or add more weight per pan de sal,” said Lucito Chavez, national vice president for the Philippine Federation of Bakers’ Association Inc. (PFBAI).
Philippine Baking (Philbaking) president Nestor Constancia echoed the same sentiment, noting that the DTI was able to discuss with them the drop of LPG prices.
“However, we explained to them that the Philbaking members are using electricity in preparing breads. But we are always in support of the DTI in developing programs that will extend help to consumers, to which we agreed to look for flour brands with lower prices that we can use in our new formulation for the Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy pan de sal,” Constancia said.
The DTI has been working closely with the producers of Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy pan de sal to conduct tests on the use of alternative flour brands so they can lower the prices of these products, noted Trade Undersecretary Victorio Mario A. Dimagiba.
Optimistic
“We are optimistic about the new formulation for Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy pan de sal and expect to be ready with these in the market by the latter part of February with reduced SRPs,” Constancia added.
Currently, the SRPs for Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy pan de sal stood at P36.50 per loaf bread and P22.25 per 10-piece pack, respectively.
Meanwhile, Nestle Philippines senior vice president Edith de Leon said the reduction in the SRP for Bear Brand will bring its prices to P50 from P51 effective April 1 this year.
“Although there are product costs that hinder us from lowering our prices such as the impacts of port congestion, we heed DTI’s call to help the consumers,” De Leon said. “In addition, Nestle will provide extra grams in its Bear Brand powdered milk. This is another assistance that we have developed for consumers that continually patronize our products.”
Meanwhile, Dimagiba further announced that the DTI has received a commitment from CDO, a manufacturer of luncheon meat and corned beef brands, that it would not increase its prices.
The DTI official also reported that his office is still waiting for a discussion with Nissin Monde, an instant noodles manufacturer, but is already expecting the company to decrease the price of a 55 gram-pack by 10-15 centavos.
Dimagiba is likewise set to meet with flour millers next week to start discussions on the reduction of prices of flour bags to further bring down the SRPs of Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy pan de sal.
“This is good news. Yet, more discussions should be conducted to further understand the factors that affect their product costs as we expect more products to have price adjustments that will result in lower SRPs,” said Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo.
