Sugar, chicken prices seen to go down next week

MANILA, Philippines - The prices of sugar and chicken are expected to go down next week despite speculation that the supply of food and agricultural products is dwindling as a result of the El Niño weather phenomenon.

During yesterday’s National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC) meeting at the Board of Investments (BOI), Agriculture Undersecretary Salvador Salacup said that the price of sugar is scheduled to go down by P2 next week while they are studying a new suggested retail price (SRP) for chicken because of the big discrepancy between the farm gate price and the retail price.

Currently, the SRP for sugar is P52 per kilo but by mid next week, Salacup said the SRP is expected to go down to P50 per kilo. Salacup said that they are just waiting for the formal recommendation from the Sugar Regulatory Authority (SRA). From there, they will forward the recommendation to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Salacup explained that the supply of sugar has been normalizing. In fact, he said that of the 60,000 metric tons that the government imported, only 15,000 metric tons were applied for by private corporations. He said this is proof that businessmen are recognizing that the supply has stabilized.

For chicken, the SRP is P130 per kilo. However, farm gate price is only P58 per kilo. Salacup said that there is a clamor that at P58 per kilo farm gate price, the price should not be P130 per kilo at wet markets.

He estimated that from farm gate prices, retailers may add P26 to P30 per kilo to the price of chicken. Given this, he said the price should only be at P110 per kilo. “Of course, this does not include the middleman’s other costs like rent and man power,” Salacup said.

Salacup said that they will be calling a meeting in order to address this concern and a new SRP is expected by next week.

In addition to this, Salacup noted that right now, the local supply of chicken is at seven million kilos. This is relatively high when compared to previous years when supply is only at three million kilos.

Chicken prices in supermarkets are lower at P115 per kilo.