No bread price increase for Christmas

MANILA, Philippines - Bakers yesterday announced they will not be increasing the price of bread this Christmas season despite the spike in costs of raw materials like sugar and liquefied petroleum gas.

“There will be a price freeze for all bread products this month because we felt increasing our prices is not being socially responsible,” Simplicio Umali, president of Gardenia Bakeries Philippines Inc., said in a telephone interview.

He said the members of the Philippine Baking Industry Group (PhilBaking) will also freeze the prices of their products.

 “I’ve already told the members of PhilBaking that Gardenia will not be increasing prices and they said they will also not adjust their prices,” said Umali, former PhilBaking president.

He said bread makers are expected to delay price adjustments until the end of the year since industry leader Gardenia is not raising prices.

Late last month, Umali said they are considering a P1 price increase for each product to cover the 30 percent increase in sugar cost. LPG and diesel prices have also gone up.

Gardenia retails a 600 gram loaf of bread at P53.50 while a ten-piece pack of pan de sal retails at P28.75.

Umali said bakers reconsidered the price adjustment because higher prices would cause lower sales. He noted that bread demand doubles, even triples, during the Yuletide season.

“We decided to absorb the additional costs. We will just compensate by moving more inventory,” Umali said.

He said the price freeze will only hold as for long as the price of flour does not rise.

“We have already received a commitment from PAFMIL (Philippine Association of Flour Millers) that they will not increase their price this December.”

Chito Chavez of the Philippine Federation of Bakers Association, Inc. (PFBAI) said that as of yesterday, PFBAI member bakeries have not yet adjusted prices for pan de sal and loaf bread.