Milk, bread prices seen to go down

MANILA, Philippines—Here’s a bit of good news for consumers: expect the retail prices of milk and bread to go down to reflect the softening of oil prices in the global market, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said Wednesday.

In a statement, the DTI announced that Nestlé Philippines will trim the suggested retail price (SRP) of Bear Brand powdered milk 150 grams by P1, while a group of bakers are mulling to either lower the price of “pandesal” by 15 centavos apiece, or increase its weight by 2 grams each.

Pandesal usually costs from P2 to P2.50 apiece and ranges in weight from 25 to 30 grams, the DTI said.

Low gas prices

Lucito Chavez, national vice president for the Philippine Federation of Bakers Association Inc. (PFBAI) said that the decreasing price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prompted the group to trim the SRP of the most popular bread in the country.

“I encourage other community bakers, particularly those who use LPG in their operations, to make their move to either bring down their price or add more weight per pandesal,” Chavez said.

Not LPG users

But Philippine Baking president Nestor Constancia said that while they shared the same sentiment to lower the price of pandesal, the members of their group were using electricity, not LPG, to bake their products.

“But we are always in support of the DTI in developing programs that will extend help to consumers,” said Constancia, adding that the members of the group had agreed to look for cheaper flour brands in their new bread formulation for Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy pandesal.

Trade Undersecretary Victorio Mario A. Dimagiba confirmed this, adding that the DTI was currently working closely with producers of Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy pandesal to conduct tests on the use of alternative flour brands so they can lower the SRP of these bread products.

Constancia said they expect the new formulation for Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy pandesal with reduced SRP to be ready in the market by the latter part of February.

Currently, the SRPs for Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy pandesal stand at P36.50 per loaf bread and P22.25 per 10-piece pack, respectively.