Prices of basic goods in CDO rising

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Prices of basic commodities, not only of rice, are going up in this city despite a dip in demand at this time of year when prices should be going down. "Business is very slow now because there are no classes and it is becoming more difficult to break even because there are less customers, and yet prices of commodities are climbing," said Teofilo A. Ganzo, a hog and cattle meat seller at this city’s Cogon market. Of the meat products, pork is most affected because of low supply of feeds. Poultry and livestock growing depends a lot on corn as feed. The regional Agriculture office said that while there is supply of corn, prices at farm gate are also going up. "Last month to last week, we were selling at P120 per kilogram of pork. This week, we are selling pork meat at roughly P140/kg to P150/kg," said Mr. Ganzo. "This will increase again by next week." The regional Trade department’s price monitoring board showed prices of hog meat hovering from P145/kg-P150/kg, depending on the cut. Price of white sugar has risen to P44/kg from P38/kg a few weeks back. "We still have supply of most basic commodities, but we have reduced orders [from producers] because of sudden increases in prices," said Benjamin Chan, owner of Orion Zen enterprises, supplier of sugar, flour and spices for many retailers in this city. He said prices of cooking oil and flour have increased significantly since early this year. Third class flour now sells at P35/kg and first-class flour at P40/kg, or P955 per sack, Mr. Chan said. Price of cooking oil has been driven by rising price of copra, now at around P35/kg from P30/kg earlier this year. During the last few weeks, rice prices in this city have increased by as much as 20%, with most commercial varieties now sold at P32/kg-P36/kg. The National Food Authority (NFA), however, has assured there is enough supply — including state-subsidized rice now still selling at P18.25/kg — mainly from recent shipments from Vietnam. Agriculture Sec. Arthur C. Yap this week dispelled fears the growing gap between import price and subsidized price would eventually force government to raise the price even of NFA rice, which is targeted for poor families. Gloria Yee, who owns a sari-sari store here, said she is already cutting much of the needs at home and items to sell in her store. "It’s like we have nothing else left for us from our current food budget," said Ms. Yee. — Geefe P. Alba, BusinessWorld