DTI reviews proposed price hike on noodles, canned goods

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is reviewing a proposal to increase the prices of canned meat, sardines and noodles.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the agency is also looking at trimming the suggested retail price (SRP) list, which serves as a guide for consumers and sellers.

Lopez told journalists on Monday that there are requests from some manufacturers of canned meat, sardines and noodles to hike prices by two to five percent, and these are being evaluated by the agency.

The request is being made due to higher cost of raw materials.

“Their costs increased. For fish, it really increased, so we will look at by how much. But these are very minimal increases. They usually want two to five percent increase. We won’t approve more than 10 percent,” Lopez said.

Canned meat such as 165-gram luncheon meat has an SRP of P31.50 to P32.50, while the 150-gram meat loaf is available at P16.50 to P19.80 and the 150-gram corned beef at P18.50 to P32.

The SRP for 155-gram canned sardines is P13.25 to P18.05, while the recommended price for 55-gram instant noodles is P6.45 to P7.75.

While the DTI is evaluating requests to hike prices, Lopez said the decision would not be released until the agency issues the trimmed SRP list.

“We are bringing it back to its normal list which I think has 140-plus (items). We are now 250. We enhanced it last year because of the inflation issue,” he said.

The DTI is trimming the SRP list as the country’s inflation rate as of August is at 1.7 percent, the lowest since the 1.8 percent in October 2016.

“Without the ASF, we are back to normal times,” Lopez said, referring to African swine fever.

He said earlier the ASF outbreak in Bulacan and Rizal might affect prices of other meat products such as chicken and beef, as more consumers opt for these products instead of pork.