Food prices up amid successive petroleum price hikes

Food prices have started to increase as middlemen pass on the additional charges to consumers following the consecutive hikes in pump prices of petroleum products amid the global supply shortage.

Prices of food products at the Marikina Public Market have gone up by P20 to P40 per kilogram, attributed to the higher delivery costs with local gasoline and diesel prices up for the past seven weeks.

Fish prices have been hiked by P20 to P40 per kilogram, vegetables by P10 to P20 per kilogram, and chicken by P20 per kilogram.

“One million barrels daw ang kakulangan per day dun sa dapat sinu-supply ng OPEC,” Oil Industry Management Bureau Director Rino Abad said in a report on GMA’s “24 Oras Weekend” on Sunday, referring to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

“Walang nababago, alanganin pa rin. Wala naman increase na ginagawa ang OPEC,” he continued.

(Supplies coming from OPEC have a deficiency of one million barrels a day. There are no changes, and the situation is still uncertain. OPEC has yet to make any increases.)

Local pump prices have been hiked for the past seven weeks, and are set to be increased once again this Tuesday — diesel by P0.60 to P0.70 per liter, and gasoline by P0.80 to P0.90 per liter.

Abad noted that the government will not be able to automatically suspend excise tax rates on petroleum products, as the provisions covered by the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) only included the years 2018, 2019, and 2020.

Under TRAIN signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte, prices per liter of diesel were hiked by P2.50, and gasoline by P2.65.

The measure provides that the excise taxes can be suspended when the average Dubai crude oil price based on Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) for the three months reaches or exceeds $80 per barrel.

“So kung magsu-suspend ‘yan, kailangan ng another law amending the Train Law,” Abad explained.

(If that will be amended, another law is needed to amend the TRAIN Law.)

Abad earlier called on the public to be frugal, as departments are now finalizing guidelines for measures to offset the impact of the continuous increases in petroleum prices. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/DVM, GMA News