Prices of Christmas goods to rise in 2nd wk of Dec

The prices of Christmas goods are expected to go up in the second week of December as demand for these products rises, a supermarket association group said yesterday.

“It’s the law of supply and demand. Once the demand increases and the supply remains constant, price naturally increases,” Philippine Amalgamated Supermarkets Association (PAGASA) president Steven T. Cua told The STAR in a telephone interview.

Cua said right now, people are starting to troop to the malls to buy their gifts and may postpone going to the supermarket to buy their noche buena goods until December.

He said those who belong to class A and B will do their Christmas shopping in the first two weeks of December while wage earners will wait until the week before Christmas.

He said on the average, they expect a family with four children to spend from P600 to P800 for noche buena.

The difference this year, Cua noted, is the notable increase in demand for substitute products. “Because of the times, people may opt to buy eden cheese instead of the queso de bola and canned meat products instead of ham,” Cua said. “Definitely we will see more wise spending. Consumers will be more selective,” he added.

The price of canned and packaged goods will no longer go up this year because the price has already increased, Cua said.

The price of fruit cocktail in supermarkets already went up by 10.5 percent. The association said there may be an increase of four percent to nine percent in December for Christmas products.

Likewise, Cua advised consumers to be creative in their purchases and not limit it to ham, Vienna sausage, queso de bola, chestnuts, or to those goods which prices are expected to rise.

Earlier, Trade Secretary Peter B. Favila assured the public that this would be a happy Christmas because not only will prices be stable, some may even go down before the end of the year. “We all agree on one thing, that we will have a happy Christmas,” Favila said. “We can look forward to more stable reduced prices this year.”