Small bakers to hike bread prices starting Thursday

MANILA, Philippines - Starting tomorrow, prices of pan de sal and bread loaves sold by small bakers will go up while those sold by bigger baking companies will also increase next week. Consumers buying pan de sal and bread loaves from small bakers will pay P0.05 centavos and P1 more beginning Thursday, the Philippine Baking Industry Group (PhilBaking) announced during a Wednesday news conference. Since millers refused to charge lower prices to bakers for a bag of flour, bakers were left with no choice but to pass on additional costs to their customers, Simplicio Umali, the group’s president, said. Higher prices should have been imposed last month but it was temporarily delayed by the trade department which requested millers to give discounts to bakers. Although millers agreed to cut prices to P957 from P970 per bag of flour, bakers insisted that a bag of flour should cost only P930. The face-off has resulted in the price increase since bakers have been absorbing hikes in the cost of raw materials include packaging, labor, and fuel. To mitigate effects of high commodity prices, the baking industry is looking at a variety of options including tapping a network for sourcing flour through the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC). PhilBaking—whose members include Jollibee, Gardenia Bakeries, Tinapayan, Julie’s Bakeshop, French Baker, Red Ribbon, among others—are also considering to work with Manildra, largest exporter of flour and wheat from Australia. The industry is also studying the possibility of importing as a group. - GMANews.TV