Prices of basic goods remain unchanged, says DTI

MANILA, Philippines—The retail prices of basic and prime commodities remained below their suggested retail prices and most have not increased in the past three months, according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Trade Undersecretary Victorio Mario A. Dimagiba, who is in charge of the DTI’s consumer protection group, said the DTI was closely monitoring prices amid the down trend in the cost of petroleum products such as diesel and gasoline.

“The results of our monitoring activities show that the prevailing prices of 40 brands of basic and prime goods are at SRP (suggested retail price) levels and these remained unchanged [since] October 2014,” Dimagiba said.

He said that since October, prices were lower than the SRPs by up to 23.7 percent.

The DTI monitoring also showed that from December to the current month, some products even saw prices declining by about 2 percent.

Follow SRP

These include Lucky 7 canned sardines, down by 25 centavos per 155-gram can; Bear Brand Powdered Milk, down P1 for a 150-gram pack; Great Taste Granules, down 80 centavos for a 50-gram sachet; and Nescafe Classic, down 25 centavos for a 25-gram sachet.

“We enjoin the manufacturers to maintain an open communication with the [DTI] so we can discuss each other’s concerns and fully understand the impacts of the decreasing world oil prices on their operations and on consumers’ concerns,” Dimagiba said.

“With the continuing drop in the retail prices of diesel and gasoline, the DTI will continue its intensified price monitoring and enforcement activities in the market to ensure adequacy of supply and verify retailers’ adherence to the SRPs,” he added.

Further, Dimagiba said the DTI was meeting within this week with manufacturers of select basic necessities such as milk, bread and noodles to discuss their SRPs in relation to the lowering cost of imported raw materials of skimmed milk, powdered milk, and liquefied petroleum gas.

“Based on our reference materials, the costs of these raw materials have dipped,” he said. “For example, the price of imported skimmed milk, which is a raw material for processed milk—powdered, evaporated and condensed—and accounting for at least half of the price components of the product, has already dropped by 67 percent.”

Considering that, Dimagiba said the DTI expected the SRPs of processed milk and related basic goods to also decrease accordingly.

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