Presidential adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion on Thursday said prices of flour-based and milk-based products continue to remain stable although several manufacturers of basic commodities have resumed their calls for price increases.
Concepcion said his company RFM Corporation is keeping the price of their flour, breads, pasta, milk, and ice cream products stable since there are no major movements in the price of raw materials.
“Right now we are trying to hold prices. In fact, we dropped the price of our milk lower than the market leader, because we want our milk to be more affordable. he said.
Pricing their fresh milk lower than popular milk brands is one way of convincing mothers to shift from using powdered milk to liquid milk, he said.
He added consumers will find it irresistible to enjoy their ice cream products since prices have dropped and there are no indications of possible price increases until the Christmas season.
Concepcion explained the decision to lower the prices of his company’s products had nothing to do with the usual holiday plea of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to hold-in price increases especially for basic products as the holiday season approaches.
It is more of a business decision to make basic products more affordable to the basic masses, where the big volume is, he said.
He pointed out that while some food products remain stable and are expected to continue to reflect the current pricing, there are commodities that may have to increase because of some supply issues like sardines.
“I’m not familiar with it, what I can say is that some products can hold it in while some may not,” he said.
Sardines manufacturers have again asked the DTI to allow them a retail hike of P3 per unit.
The Canned Sardines Association of the Philippines (CSAP), a group of big sardines canners, are poised to meet with the DTI to plead their case.
The group noted that the DTI has consistently pushed back requests to accommodate requests for price increase by sardines makers.
CSAP said it understands that DTI call since sardines is a social commodity product preferred by the lower income families, but prices of raw materials have shoot up threatening to affect operations and eroding competitiveness of sardines as a mass market product.