As the Christmas holidays are just around the corner, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said Thursday it will release the suggested retail prices (SRP) of Noche Buena items by the end of October or early November.
It also urged Filipinos to consider doing early Christmas shopping to avoid price hikes, as the season kicks off on September 1st or the start of the “Ber” months and lasts until January the following year.
“We will soon release a Noche Buena bulletin maybe by the last week of October or early November to guide our consumers on the right prices of items for Noche Buena,” DTI Undersecretary Ruth Castelo told a public briefing.
“There are many Christmas products that don’t easily expire. So, if you can already stock up on some of these items, please do so while the prices are still not moving,” she added.
The department also suggested shoppers check promo bundles of some products used for the traditional Christmas feast to save money.
The SRP of most Noche Buena products last year remains unchanged and some even dropped, Castelo noted, such as ham, cheese, keso de bola, sandwich spread, mayonnaise, pasta noodles, spaghetti sauce, and tomato sauce.
She noted that prices of Christmas products will start to increase as Christmas approaches.
“Eventually, the price will increase again or when it’s close. Because when people are in a hurry, they don’t notice that the price has increased or that the retailers or manufacturers have raised your price, so it’s better for them to buy earlier,” she added.
To score the best deals, Castelo suggested buying food products in bundles as they would be cheaper as compared to when they are bought as single items.
“You can save as much as P20 up to P70 if you purchase bundled products,” she said.