Flour price hike to push through

Flour millers said yesterday they would not postpone their price increase, which will result in higher prices of pan de sal and other breads.

The price of pan de sal is set to go up this week by 25 centavos per piece, and loaf bread by P1.50 each.

Millers said that pan de sal prices are not likely to stabilize and may even increase again in September, depending on the wheat harvest in the United States.

“Right now, in anticipation of the US harvest, the trend (of wheat price) is going down, but we are still buying and we will only know for sure in September,” Ric Pinca, executive director of Flour Millers Association, told The STAR in a telephone interview.

Pinca explained that the increase they implemented at the beginning of this month would be the last for August.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has yet to take steps to prevent the increase in the price of pan de sal and other bread products even as local bakers pleaded with the agency to look into the rising price of flour.

“We can’t tell when the next round of increases will be, but for sure, it will not be this month,” Pinca said.

He added that the DTI had already called him, but only to set a meeting and not hold off price increases.

“If they do, we have to say no to this. It’s a matter of cost,” he said.

Bakers had earlier asked the DTI to stop flour millers from jacking up their prices.

Chito Chavez, vice president of the Philippine Federation of Bakers, said they have already spoken to Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya on the matter.

But Chavez said the price increases might be implemented even before the scheduled talk between DTI and flour millers set later this week.

The DTI has refused to comment on the issue.

In a text message to The STAR, the DTI said it would come up with a press release, but no statement was given as of press time.

Since April global flour prices have been going down to the same level of the last quarter of 2007, but flour prices went up in the Philippines.

Flour futures are expected to go down after this month as it is harvest time in the US where most of the flour comes from, the Philippine Baking Industry Group Inc. (PhilBaking) said.

PhilBaking president Simplicio Umali said the supply of flour in the US would go up by 19 percent, or about 67 million metric tons for this year, and that the global supply of wheat will go up by 9 percent or from 642 million metric tons to 665 million metric tons. — Ma. Elisa Osorio