GOVERNMENT Watch (formerly Consumer and Oil Price Watch) is urging the Department of Trade and Industry to continue monitoring prices of basic goods and commodities to ensure that they reflect the price cuts in oil products.
Oil prices went up last week but analysts said the price hike was not sustainable owing to the oversupply of oil products in the world market.
The watchdog, in a statement, lauded DTI for its continuing efforts to bring down prices of basic goods and commodities.
Consumers’ advocate Raul T. Concepcion has been vigilantly keeping tabs of power and oil prices.
According to the latest meeting of the National Price Coordinating Council Meeting called by Trade Secretary Adrian Cristobal, oil prices have significantly gone down since 2014.
In 2015 alone, prices of gasoline, diesel, household LPG and kerosene recorded a total price rollback of P1.53 per liter, P7.10 per liter, P3.09 per kilogram and P8.32 per liter, respectively.
From a high of P50 per liter in 2014, the price of gasoline went down to P31 per liter to P38 per liter.
From P30 per liter, diesel went down to P17 to P29 per liter while household LPG went down to P550 per cylinder from an all-time high of P800 per 11-kilo cylinder.
“Government Watch is very happy with the way DTI is conducting its strict monitoring of oil and basic products as the lower prices will redound to the benefit of consumers,” Concepcion said.
Concepcion said that while Government Watch is now focused on monitoring government developments especially the crucial 2016 national elections, it is still advocating lower oil prices to benefit consumers.
Based on the latest Price Monitoring Data of the DTI, prices of commercial rice are lower by P1 to P2 compared to last year except for special rice which remained at P50 per kilo.
Cooking oil prices also declined by P2 to P4 compared to last year. Cooking oil lapad size is currently at P24 while long-neck size is at P48.
Prices of pork, chicken and beef are also generally stable while fish prices also remained stable except for bangus which went up by P10 compared to last year.
Prices of vegetables also remained stable but prices of fruits saw an increase by P20 compared to last year except for lakatan and latundan which remained stable.
Prices of flour also went down due to lower prices of wheat and competition in the market.
Meanwhile, prices of manufactured basic necessities and prime commodities remained stable although it has not gone down due to high trucking costs.
“Lower oil prices should not only be reflected in the price of transportation and basic goods and commodities alone but also the cost of power,” according to Government Watch spokesman Pete Cura said.
Cura urged DTI to continue to monitor the price and supply situation of basic necessities and prime commodities including trucking rates which increased due to the port congestion as it has been affecting the price of manufactured goods.
Trucking rates have been going down since July 2015 but rates are still higher compared to pre-port congestion levels (P17,000). Trucking rates went up to as high as P29,000 but went down in January due to low demand and decrease in oil prices.