MANILA, Philippines--After saying it will file profiteering charges against cement industry players who will be caught overpricing or hoarding their products, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is now threatening to do the same with flour millers.

Trade Secretary Peter Favila said flour millers that would raise their prices without informing the DTI beforehand and providing a reasonable justification for the act could also face profiteering charges.

?We will call them for a meeting so they can explain why they need to raise prices. They know that they have to inform us before they implement any adjustment. If they don?t inform us, then they should also expect to not be informed of the action that we will take,? he said Friday evening.

The Philippine Association of Flour Millers said local flour ex-mill prices would likely increase by P20 per 25-kilogram bag this month due to high wheat prices in the world market.

The group said the scarcity of high-protein wheat, or the kind that bakers preferred due to its consistent rising quality, was driving world wheat prices up.

The bulk of the recent harvests of wheat-exporting countries consisted of lower-protein wheat, placing a premium on the high-protein variety.

Pafmil said world wheat prices were expected to increase even more until the next harvest in October.

But in an earlier interview, Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya said local flour prices should not go up at this point, as millers still had inventories good for around a month or two.