Bread prices seen going down

MANILA, Philippines - Prices of bread may go down in the coming months amid decreases in wheat and flour costs, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said.   

Trade Undersecretary Victorio Mario Dimagiba said in a press conference Wednesday bread prices may decline as result of the  reduction in wheat and flour prices.   

“I talked to them (bakers) and told them prices of wheat for the past three months have been low. The price of flour has also gone down,” he  said.   

The DTI’s price monitoring report showed that the prevailing price for  General Grade I 25-kilogram bag of hard flour is at P890 for the week  of September 22 to 26.  

 This is lower than the prevailing price of P880 per bag in the same period last year.   

Previously, Dimagiba said it was selling at P940 per bag.   

While bakers have not made any commitment to reduce their prices, Dimagiba said the lower flour prices may result in cuts possibly before Christmas.   

A 450-gram loaf of Pinoy Tasty is currently selling at P37, while the  250-gram Pinoy Pandesal costs P22.50 per pack.   

Dimagiba said the DTI is preparing the list of  suggested retail prices for Noche Buena items with the Christmas  season approaching.   

“For the Noche Buena items, our target is to have it ready by Wednesday,” he said.   

The list would serve as a guide for consumers.   

As the Christmas season is also the time when many Filipinos living abroad send goods to relatives here through balikbayan boxes, Dimagiba also reminded consumers to deal only with freight forwarders which  have accreditation from the DTI.   

For the January to September period, the DTI has received 124 complaints regarding balikbayan boxes.   

“This is alarming because it is close to full year 2013 and we still  have three months to go. Historically, we get more complaints (on  balikbayan boxes) in the last quarter of the year as individuals wait  for shipments for Christmas,” Dimagiba said.   

Last year, the DTI received a total of 149 complaints regarding balikbayan boxes. The complaints made include undelivered or damaged packages, pilferage, unreasonable delay and overcharging.   

For more information on prices of goods and balikbayan boxes, individuals can visit the DTI website: www.dti.gov.ph.