Pinoys unlikely to substitute rice with bread

MANILA, Philippines – Will Filipinos turn to bread and noodles as the price of rice continues to rise? While food experts share mixed opinions, bakers are one in saying that it would be unlikely for Filipinos to make an abrupt shift from rice to wheat-based bread. Businessman Walter Co, owner of Mandaluyong’s Walter Bread Corp, told GMANews.TV that if worried buyers want to save, choosing bread in place of rice would seem to be an unwise idea. "I doubt it. Dati ang one loaf of bread ay kasing presyo lang ng isang kilo ng bigas. Pero ngayon ang layo na ng tinapay (Before, a loaf of bread costs the same as a kilo of rice. Now the price of bread is high)," said Co, whose company is popular for its healthy line of wheat bread products called Sugarfree. Co said the price of bread is dependent on the price of wheat, which local millers import from Australia, the United States and Canada. "We have always been holding on to the price increases to think that wheat flour takes up 60 percent of the total cost of all ingredients in making bread," Co said. Starting late last year, the price of wheat in the world market spiked. The price of a sack of wheat flour has risen by as much as 60 percent to P940 last March from two years ago when it only cost P590. Despite this, Co said breadmakers only increased the price of their products to just 18 percent. The price of a 600-gram loaf bread has only gone up from P49.50 last year to P52. Rising prices of bread Baker Manolo Ocampo, who operates a small bakery in Quezon City, said price-conscious consumers cannot give up rice because the price of bread is also going up. He said that as early as February this year, breadmakers increased the prices of bread, except pandesal, to absorb the increasing cost of flour. He said the price of a 30-gram pandesal may increase from P2 to P3 next month. "Iyong pandesal, next month pa (tataas ang presyo) kasi mukhang hindi pa ready ang customers namin sa pagtaas. Mas mabili kasi iyon kaysa sa ibang klase ng tinapay (We'll raise the price of pandesal only next month because our customers are not prepared for an increase. Pandesal is still our bestseller)," said Ocampo, adding that they channeled the price increase to other bread products to "maintain our revenue." Manolo said Filipinos would also not substitute rice with bread because they have been used to eating rice. "Regular food na ng mga Pilipino (ang kanin). Hindi naman siguro nila ipapalit ang tinapay sa bigas. Kasi ang tinapay ay sa breakfast lang, sa mga ganyan lang naman iyan (Rice has become a regular food for Filipinos. It's unlikely they would replace rice with bread. Bread is only for breakfast)," Ocampo said. From rice to corn One of the major factors that contributed to the rice price hike is the shortage of supply, Ocampo and Co said. They observed that farmers here and abroad are giving up planting rice and wheat to grow corn to ride on the growing demand of the biofuels industry. "Nagkakaroon ng shortage kasi lumilipat sila sa corn planting para doon sa biofuel. So kumukonti ang nagtatanim ng wheat abroad (There is a shortage because farmers plant corn for biofuel. There are fewer farmers planting wheat abroad)," Ocampo said. Aside from the shift to crop plantation, bakery owners said other factors also contributed to the increase in bread prices. Co cited the consistent spike in the price of petroleum product. The cost of transportation has more than doubled, he said. Austerity measures Co said breadmakers face the rising cost of wheat head on by devising austerity measures. While increasing the prices of bread does not guarantee revenue, Co said they have resorted to other measures like investing on equipment, improving work processes, and maximizing production and transportation schedule. But if there is a specific sector of the bread industry that is expected to take the brunt of the rising price of wheat, it would be the small-time bakers. "Kami nagagawan pa namin ng paraan. Pero ang small bakeries, ang dami nang nagsasara (We are still able to go around the problem. Meanwhile, the number of small bakeries closing down, continue to grow)," Co said. Small-time baker Ocampo said he would be grateful to the government if it would provide assistance to at least cushion the impact of the high price of wheat. "Mas maganda siguro kung magbibigay ang gobyerno ng price subsidy para dun pa lang sa pag-iimport ng mga miller mabawasan na ang gastos nila at hindi tataas ng ganoon ang presyo (It would be good if the government would subsidize the price of the importation of wheat so that the expenses of millers would be lower)," Ocampo said. Ocampo’s wish seems unlikely to be granted. A request made by the Philippine Baking Group for exemption from value added tax and for a tariff relief was ignored. The government instead offered to take up the cudgels of the bakers in facilitating the importation of wheat from China through non-commercial channels. - Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV