DTI sets crackdown on profiteers

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is poised to crack down on profiteers following reports that several small retailers have increased their selling price for milk products, coffee and even flour.

During yesterday’s meeting of the National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC), Acting Trade and Industry Secretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. admitted that local milk manufacturers have increased their prices by five to eight percent due to the continued depreciation of the peso against the dollar.

The price increased by the local milk manufacturers, Cristobal explained, is reasonable considering that they have held off on a price adjustment in the past two to three years.

Unfortunately, though, Cristobal said, small retailers have reportedly increased their retail prices of milk products and coffee by more than 10 percent even up to 12 percent.

"Under the Price Act, a price increase of more than 10 percent that is not justified is subject to sanctions," Cristobal warned.

The DTI, thus, is going into a preventive mode by stepping up its price monitoring.

Cooking oil prices, Cristobal said, have also gone up due to the increase in the world price of copra which was previously at P14 per kilo and is now at P23 per kilo.

Chicken prices have also gone up as consumers are now convinced that local poultry have not been affected by the bird flu scare.

Chicken prices which dropped to as low as P69 per kilo in March have climbed between P95 and P110 per kilo in the wet markets, but is reportedly cheaper in local supermarkets with prices on average between P88 and P92 per kilo.

Pork prices have gone down minimally to P141 per kilo from P143 per kilo in March.

According to Francisco Buencamino of the Philippine Association of Meat Processors, pork prices are expected to go down by June.

At the moment, he explained, pork prices remain high since the intervention in terms of allowing more pork imports has not materialized.

Global prices of pork, Buencamino revealed, remain high with South Korea (which is a known exporter of pork) not quoting any selling price because of high domestic prices.

On the other hand, other basic goods such as rice and sugar, Cristobal pointed out, have remained stable.

The same is true for most processed food products as canned fish and meat products.