Bread prices to go down

MANILA, Philippines – The price of pan de sal will go down on Tuesday, the local bakers’ association announced yesterday.

In a press conference, Simplicio Umali Jr., president of the Philippine Baking Industry Group Inc., said the price of pan de sal will go down by P0.25 for every ten-piece pack while the price of a 600-gram loaf of bread will be P0.50 lower.

According to Umali, the price adjustment was a result of the flour miller’s decision to decrease their price by P17 – from P957 to P940.

Umali said the price may go down further before Christmas, given that flour in this country is still “overpriced.”

“We are hopeful that they (flour millers) will bring down the price of flour further,” Umali said. “Before Christmas hopefully we can lower the price by another P1.00.”

Umali claimed flour prices should go down by more than P17.

“We do not calculate anymore because we just end up frustrated. They (local flour millers) don’t follow global trends,” he added.

According to Umali, bakers have suffered losses from August to October. In fact, this year 50 bakers have closed shop. In the past two years, 30 percent of the bakeries closed down.

To address this problem, the bakers have asked the government to do three things. First, to pressure flour millers to further lower the price of flour. Second, to start importing flour, and third, remove the tariff on flour.

“If we allow imported flour to enter the country then local millers will be forced to be more competitive and price their products accordingly,” he said.

“The entry of imported flour won’t kill the local industry,” Umali stressed.

Because of the high price of bread, Umali said the demand for bread has gone down by as much as 10 percent since the beginning of the year.

“It was worse these past three months, but now we are confident that we will improve this November,” he said.

During the Christmas season, he said the demand is expected to go up by 50 percent. “Usually, the demand is greater than the supply but even if this is the case, we won’t increase our price. That is our promise.”