Filipino Tasty price to stay at P39

MANILA, Philippines—The price of the so-called generic loaf bread Pinoy Tasty will stay at P39 per loaf.

This despite the increase in local flour prices which has prompted bakers to jack up the price of branded loaves by P1.

In a joint statement issued Tuesday, the Philippine Baking Industry Group, Filipino-Chinese Bakeries Association Inc., and Federation of Bakers Association Inc. said the only way they could keep the price of Pinoy Tasty stable was to import flour from Indonesia and Malaysia, as local flour was now priced too high.

According to the bakers, the landed cost of flour from Indonesia and Malaysia was lower by as much as P100 per 25-kilogram bag, as compared with locally milled flour of the same quality.

In the past months, the price of local flour had increased by P40 to P50 a bag to P920-930, already too much for bakers to absorb.

“They had no other recourse but to pass on the increase as they are highly dependent on the local flour millers for their supply of flour used for their branded products,” the statement said, referring to the bakers.

Philbaking members Gardenia Bakeries Philippines Inc. and Uncle George had already implemented a P1 hike in the price of branded loaves. Marby and Creative Bakers are set to follow suit in the next few days. Community bakers have also jacked up the price of their loaf breads by the same level.

This price hike considered only the rise in flour prices and did not factor in the increase in the prices of milk, cooking oil, shortening, diesel, and liquefied petroleum gas. Also excluded from the computation were the toll hike and the additional P20 cost of living allowance granted to employees.

For pan de sal, Philbaking members have decided not to increase prices as the market was too price-sensitive. Community bakers, on the other hand, while they will likewise keep pan de sal prices stable, will have to reduce the size of their bread to offset the increase in flour prices.

Accoring to data from US Wheat Associates, wheat prices have started to decline. Right now, wheat is priced at $476 per metric ton, down 10 percent from the $526 per MT price registered in February.

Bakers are expecting local millers to reflect this declining wheat price on the price of locally milled flour. Should local flour prices decrease, the bakers said they would be able to pass these savings on to consumers.