Bakers find right mix to cope with war impact
Smaller pandesal, costlier ‘tasty’
MANILA, Philippines — Before the sun rises, Roberto Ilagan stands in front of Bakery Sa Pureza, waiting for the gentle breeze of toasted sweetness to seep out from the building.
Once the clock strikes 5:30 a.m., Ilagan takes a step inside the bakery, then into the counter.
The aromatics from the hot oven overwhelms the noise and pollution outside, announcing to Ilagan and the queue behind him what they have been waiting for: freshly baked pandesal, the staple breakfast of Filipino households.
He reaches into his pockets, rummaging through yesterday’s coins until he feels the right combination: two P20 coins, two one-peso coins and one P10 coin.
For tricycle drivers like Ilagan, the first batch of hot pandesal from the bakery signals the start of a new day. No pandesal, no work to begin with.
“It’s always pandesal and coffee in the morning,” said Ilagan, 54, in Filipino, after buying 10 pieces of five-peso pandesal and a stick of soluble coffee.
“Even if they increase prices, it is okay with me. Everything is expensive nowadays,” Ilagan, known in the area as Mang Berto, added.
Absorbing the costs
Luckily for the patrons of Bakery sa Pureza, the community bakery is not increasing its prices anytime soon despite surging operating costs due to more expensive liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanks and costlier ingredients.
“We kept the price of our pandesal at P2,” said Isiah Bucao, a second-generation owner of the 41-year-old bakery near the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Manila.
“Most of our customers are students and tricycle drivers. It is our own way of giving back to them since they supported us all these years,” Bucao added, recalling that their business was razed by fire two years ago.
Bakery sa Pureza kept its prices stable by cutting its operating hours, reducing plastic use and strictly turning off LPG tanks by 8 a.m. until turning them on for the next batch of baking.
The community bakery used to be open 24 hours. Now it closes at around 10 p.m. The bakery does not give extra plastic bags anymore except for customers who hang their bread products on their bicycles.
“As long as we can absorb the price increases, we will continue to do so,” Bucao said on April 21, the day LPG prices rolled back after President Marcos removed the excise tax on the oil byproduct.
The removal of the excise tax will result in a P33 reduction in every 11-kilo LPG tank, according to the LPG Marketers Association Inc.
Bucao said they used to spend P4,310 for the refill of their 50-kilo LPG tank before the Middle East war broke out last Feb. 28. Last week, he spent P6,600 for the refill.
Risks of import dependence
But for other community bakers, keeping prices unchanged has become a challenge since bread products are highly dependent on imported goods, according to the Asosasyon ng Panaderong Pilipino (APP).
The country’s supply of LPG, a by-product of oil refining, is sourced from other countries, making its price vulnerable to global oil market shocks.
Ingredients used in bread making such as flour, butter, yeast and even salt are also imported, APP president Lucito Chavez said in radio interviews.
Aside from global price adjustments and supply disruptions, these imported raw materials are also affected by foreign exchange movements – the weaker the peso, the costlier the imported product is.
Albeth Bakehouse along J. Barlin Street in Sampaloc, Manila has also been finding ways to keep up with the economic consequences of the Middle East crisis.
The neighborhood bakery increased the prices of some key products like those in llanera pans while reducing the sizes of other items, including pandesal, as a response to more expensive LPG and ingredients like flour and yeast.
The weight of Albeth Bakehouse’s pandesal was reduced to 20 grams from 30 grams. However, the weight reduction was short-lived after the bakery got a P25,000 assistance from the City of Manila government. In exchange, community bakers like them must not raise prices of basic Filipino breads such as pandesal, monay and Spanish bread for a month or until mid-May.
Rovelyn Alcabasa, one of the bakery’s workers, said the financial assistance allowed them to buy at least 250 kilos of flour, enough to last for about two weeks.
But Alcabasa said the bakery may have to increase its prices and reduce the sizes of its bread products next month, once the agreement with the local government expires.
Adjusting bread costs, sizes
In Mandaluyong, community bakers have begun adjusting their bread offerings as well as prices. One bakery has hiked the price of its tasty or sliced bread as well as monay by P3 to P5 per pack. The price of its small and big buns already increased by P2 to P5.
Another neighborhood bakery in Mandaluyong opted not to increase the price of its pandesal but stopped giving away free plastic bags. Customers may buy a plastic bag for P1.
“Due to the rising cost of supplies such as plastic bags, we can no longer offer them for free with your purchase [of pandesal],” the notice posted inside the bakery read.
“We have not raised the price of our pandesal, so we hope you understand that providing free plastic is no longer possible for us,” the notice added while encouraging customers to bring their own bags.
Meanwhile, two community bakeries in Marikina City have also increased their bread prices to keep their businesses afloat. Jedstar Bakery raised the price of its tasty bread by P5 while its pandesal is now 50 centavos more expensive.
Four Sister’s Bakery raised the prices of its colored and flavored bread products by as much as P2 depending on the variant. The bakery kept its pandesal and sliced bread prices but reduced their sizes.
“The others sell monay for P35, I sell them for P20 only,” said Normie Sotto, owner of Four Sister’s Bakery.
“It is hard not to increase our prices when all our supplies have increased costs, even packaging. Plus, we have to sustain our kids’ education,” Sotto added.
The year-on-year inflation of flour, bread and other bakery products, pasta products and other cereals quickened to 2.5 percent in March from 2.4 percent in February, indicating a faster rise in prices, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Loyal consumers
Pandesal has been one of the most affordable staples to Filipinos. In fact, consumption of the bread product has been growing consistently in recent years.
A Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report indicated that pandesal consumption in the Philippines grew substantially between 2021 and 2019, based on data from the Department of Science and Technology.
The growth of pandesal consumption ranged from 18.2 percent among 60 years old and above to 33.3 percent among school-aged children (6 to 12 years old) and adolescents (13 to 18 years old), the report said.
The report also showed that pandesal consumption among Filipinos aged six months to five years rose by a quarter to five grams daily in 2021 from four grams in 2018-2019. The GAIN report was prepared and published by the US Department of Agriculture - Foreign Agricultural Service in Manila.
Take for example Shane Quiachon, a university student, who has relied on pandesal as her breakfast before her morning classes. Quiachon buys from Albeth Bakehouse twice a week.
Despite knowing that the bakery has reduced the size of its pandesal due to rising ingredient costs, Quiachon said she would still continue buying from them as long as the price remains unchanged.
“I will still buy from them unless the price reaches P5 or P6 per piece,” she said.
Bakery sa Pureza’s Spanish bread will always be the savior for Kim de Guzman, a college student. “It has been my go-to bread. It is both affordable and filling enough to get me through my classes.”
In Marikina, Girlie Poraso tags along her kids for a quick merienda bite from a bakery. The snack? Chocolate pudding a la brownies.
“My children love this bread, that’s why I keep on buying them (even if the price has increased by P2 already),” said Poraso.
This story was produced by senior journalism students at the University of Santo Tomas for their agricultural journalism elective class under professor and STAR reporter Jasper Emmanuel Arcalas. — Rain Katrina Tolentino
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