MANILA, Oct. 29 (PNA) — Consumers shall expect lower prices of Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal next month as prices of flour declined in the market, Department of Trade and Industry-Consumer Protection Group (DTI-CPG) Undersecretary Victorio Mario A. Dimagiba said Wednesday.
Dimagiba said that effective November 7, there will be a Php0.50 decrease per loaf in price of Pinoy Tasty while price of the 10-piece pack Pinoy Pandesal will be slashed by Php0.25.
Current prices of Pinoy Tasty loaf and 10-piece pack Pinoy Pandesal posted at Php37.00 and Php22.50, respectively.
The DTI undersecretary explained that the rollback in prices of Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal was due to lower price of Harinang Pinoy in mid-October from Php750.00 to Php730.00.
Harinang Pinoy is the primary ingredient for Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal.
On the other hand, Philippine Baking Industry Group Inc. (PhilBaking) President Nestor Cosntancia — in a text message to the CPG head — has confirmed DTI of the price reduction on Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal.
“We have talked to bakers. We will push through with Php0.50 reduction. We started issuing the pricelist to supermarkets already early this week,” Constancia told Dimagiba.
“If there will be further reduction in price of Pinoy Tasty flour (Harinang Pinoy), we will have another round of price reduction on Pinoy Tasty,” the PhilBaking head added.
Meanwhile, Dimagiba and CPG done market monitoring Wednesday morning in Manila, Muntinlupa, Pasig, Pasay, Caloocan, Malabon, and Quezon City to check prices of flour.
Dimagiba said that based on their monitoring, flour is being sold at Php860.00 to Php950.00 per 25-kilogram bag.
Dimagiba, on the hand, noted that since March last year, the ex-mill price of local flour declined by Php5.00 to Php50.00.
“Prices of flour should not be over Php900.00,” he told reporters.
Hence, during the monitoring this morning, the CPG issued Show Cause Orders to 15 retailers selling flour above Php900.00.
“Under Republic Act No. 7581 or the Price Act, penalties for illegal price manipulation such as profiteering include: imprisonment of five years up to 15 years and administrative fine of Php5,000.00 to Php1 million,” Dimagiba reminded retailers. (PNA)