The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) released Wednesday the new price guide for Noche Buena products spanning 240 basic and prime holiday products for Christmas 2023.
Trade secretary Alfredo Pascual provided a sneak peek of the Noche Buena Price Guide noting that the price adjustments were what manufacturers have proposed to the DTI to keep a level of profitability for companies.
“These prices are the suggested retail prices by manufacturers for their products. The way this will operate, if there are retailers that are selling higher than what the manufacturers have specified, and our monitors are able to detect this deviation, we will call the attention of the manufacturers. They will deal with the retailers selling their products higher than their suggested retail price (SRP). This is not like the SRP where DTI takes action against the retailer by giving letter or notice of inquiry,” he said in a briefing Tuesday.
While the Noche Buena bulletin is a price guide to help consumers decide what brands will give them better savings, these products are not among the basic necessities and prime commodities listed in the Price Act, he added.
The Noche Buena price bulletin has been a concerted effort among manufacturers and stakeholders including the Consumer Protection Group of the DTI.
Trade assistant secretary Amanda Marie Nograles said many food manufacturers have, in fact, withheld the proposed price increase with respect to the DTI’s request to defer any price adjustments until consultations with stakeholders are exhausted.
“In the Noche Buena price guide this year, we would like to emphasize that our consumers are given the option to choose. And unlike the previous years, this year took a more proactive role. We have engaged all manufacturers of Noche Buena items and asked them to participate and put their SKUs in the guide,” she said.
From 222 stock-keeping units in 2022 Noche Buena price list increased to 240 as more manufacturers decided to join the annual price guide released by the DTI.
The price guide highlighted prices of items that are unchanged which are about 34 products from 240 SKUs while 21 items have manifested a slight decrease in prices.
“And as to the increases, we would like to happily report that only a 1 to 5 percent increase among 83 SKUs which is about 35 percent of the total SKUs. About 37 SKUs or 15 percent have posted increases of 6 to 10 percent and about 13 percent or 32 SKUs have imposed more than 10 percent price adjustment,” Nograles said.
The new Noche Buena price guide will prevail until December 31, 2023. It will include consumer tips and notes on how to compare prices and check on expiry dates. Across 12 categories ], the highest increase is in cheese which increased by P49.
The CPG is seeking the help of the DTI regional operations group to help monitor the prices, hoping there won’t be reports of price violations, as well as with the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to ensure that there is competition in the market.
