DTI urges bakers to spare Pinoy Tasty from price increase

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) appealed yesterday to bakers to spare the Pinoy Tasty from any price adjustments because it is supposed to be a low priced bread alternative for Filipinos.

“Maybe the bakers can try to limit any price increases because the Pinoy Tasty is supposed to be their CSR (corporate social responsibility),” Trade Undersecretary Zenaida C. Maglaya said. “This can be their Valentines gift to the consumers,” she added.

According to Maglaya, they have already allowed bakers to adjust the price of the Pinoy Tasty last January to P38 from P36 per loaf. This new price adjustment will put the price of Pinoy Tasty to P40 per 400 gram loaf bread.

Bakers are supposed to get the permission of the DTI before they can adjust the price of the Pinoy Tasty because its cost is partly subsidized by the government.

As a result, Maglaya said they will ask bakers to submit their purchase order forms in order to justify the pending price increases. The Philippine Baking Industry Group (Philbaking) already said they will adjust their prices by P2 per loaf within the month.

“I am just surprised that the big bakers are saying they will adjust their prices. The big guys usually get discounts from millers so their costs should not be based on ex mill prices,” Maglaya explained.

“We will not rely on the ex mil price and we would also like to see their computation on their formula that for every P40 per bag increase in flour prices there is a corresponding P1 adjustment in loaf bread prices,” she said.

Maglaya said that bakers are reacting to news that flour millers will raise their price by P80 per 25 kg bag, but this adjustment has not happened yet. “We have not received any letter from the individual millers informing us of any price adjustments,” Maglaya said. She said bakers should not implement any price increases until the price of flour has moved up.