High prices of cement and flour under scrutiny

Prices of cement went up beyond the suggested retail price or SRP, and farm gate prices of flour have gone down but retailers continue to sell the commodity at higher prices.

The situation has prompted government-led National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC) to ask what's going on.

“We will be sending letters to cement producers to ask them why their prices have gone up,” Trade Undersecretary Zenaida C. Maglaya told reporters in a briefing Monday after the NPCC meeting at the Department of Trade and Industry in Makati City.

“We have to ask them the reason because it may be that they consumed more coal, which went up, but there might be another reason,” Maglaya noted.

Cement companies and flour retailers must be able to explain within the week what is happening.

The SRP for a 40-kilogram sack of cement is P205 to P210.

However, cement is being sold at P218 to P220 per sack, according to price monitoring data, the Trade Department released Monday.

In a text message to reporters, the Cement Manufacturers’ Association of the Philippines (CEMAP) declined to comment, saying “members may wish to explain themselves individually.”

In the case of flour, the department said retailers are selling at P790 to P940 per 25-kg bag in spite of stable prices in the global market. “Farm gate prices of the dealers have fallen around P40 but retail prices have not yet gone down. So, we have begun writing to them to ask why prices are still at the same rate,” she said.

The council also talked about pork prices.

“Pork prices have gone up mainly because demand is outstripping supply,” Agriculture Assistant Secretary Salvador S. Salacup Pork said during the same briefing.

“Producers also need to beef up on their safety processes so they can get their supplies faster,” he added. — VS, GMA News