Bread price increase still looms

MANILA, Philippines - Bakers will increase bread prices if millers do not roll back flour prices by an additional P27 per bag by Friday, an industry group said Sunday. The P1.50 price increase per 600-gram bread loaf previously slated for this week had been held off after the Philippine Association of Flour Millers announced that they would reduce prices for a 25-kilogram bag of flour by P13 starting today. Hence, a 25-kg bag of hard flour will now cost P957 from P970, while soft flour will cost P857 from P870. "If [flour millers] do not roll back prices [by an additional P27/25-kg bag] by Friday, we will increase the price of a 600-gram bread loaf by P1 and a 25-gram pan de sal by 5 centavos," Philippine Baking Industry Group (PhilBaking) President Simplicio P. Umali, Jr. said in a telephone interview Sunday. The price increase, he said, will cover the hikes in the costs of fuel, packaging, labor, and flour, the bakers group said. For her part, Angel L. Pelayo, Trade department assistant secretary and head of the panel handling the pricing dispute, said they hope to complete their probe into flour prices by Friday. "The panel has to review the pricing structure of the proposed increase, based on the submission of both parties, as well as the presentation of the Bureau of Import Services, US Wheat, and NEDA [National Economic and Development Authority]," Ms. Pelayo said in a mobile "text" message Sunday. "DTI [Department of Trade and Industry] is not against the price increase as long as it is justified," she stressed. "There is no price ceiling, but we recognize that bread is a food staple," she added. — Jessica Anne D. Hermosa, BusinessWorld