DTI moves to stabilize prices of pan de sal

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will try to stabilize the price of pan de sal by initially monitoring the price of flour which accounts for 40 percent of the production cost of bakers.

According to Consumer Welfare and Trade Regulation Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr., the DTI has asked member of the Philippine Association of Flour Millers (PAFMIL) and the Chamber of Philippine Flour Millers (CHAMP) to provide relevant date on wheat importation to the DTI’s Bureau of Domestic Trade (BDT).

"We are also studying way and means to help the Philippine Federation of Bakers Associations Inc. (PFBAI) to get better prices for their other ingredients," Cristobal said.

According to Cristobal, the DTI is coordinating with the Department of Energy and the LPG industry to see what can be done about the rising cost of LPG.

Cristobal welcomed the P1 per kilogram rollback in LPG prices taken by Shell.

According to Cristobal, Shell’s rollback is "a step in the right direction."

DTI’s latest price monitoring report shows that while the price of soft flour has risen by 1.89 percent to P540 per 25 kilo bag from last month’s P530, hard flour, the main ingredient used by bakers for pan de sal, has remained stable at P610 per 25 kilo bag in the past month.