By Kris M. Crismundo
MANILA, July 2 (PNA) — The Philippine Baking Industry Group (PhilBaking) said that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) should focus its probe on flour and bread prices on flour millers only after prices of wheat declined in the international market.
In a statement, PhilBaking President Nestor Constancia reaffirmed that local prices of flour — which is made of wheat and the main ingredient for bread — remained the highest in the ASEAN region.
The Philippines imports wheat as the country does not produce the said commodity.
PhilBaking also sought reasons why flour prices in the Philippines remained high, Constancia said.
“The PhilBaking urges DTI to focus its investigation on the flour millers and check why prices of flour in the Philippines remain high despite the reported decline in the wheat prices from the world market,” he said.
“We, bakers, have always been at the losing end in the prices of our raw materials particularly flour. Bakers group hope that DTI’s aggressive efforts to pressure local flour millers to lower down their prices preferably to the same level of Php500 to Php600 per sack as available in neighboring countries,” he added.
Constancia cited that flour prices in the Philippines, which range from Php850 to Php900 per 25-kilogram bag, were higher by 30 to 40 percent compared to Thailand’s Php600 per bag, Vietnam’s Php530 per bag, and Malaysia’s and Singapore’s Php500 per bag.
“Bakers have been actively supportive of the government’s move to pressure flour millers to substantially lower their prices,” the business group said.
“A significant drop in the prices of flour has always been what bakers wanted as this will benefit consumers thru price reduction of breads. Lower bread prices will immediately increase demand and bread consumption,” PhilBaking president added.
PhilBaking also wants flour prices in the local market to be aligned with other ASEAN neighbors.
“We are still hopeful that DTI will help bakers find ways to allow the entry of more imported flour from Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore to increase competition in the flour industry. More flour imports would mean more competitive flour prices,” PhilBaking said.
Earlier, DTI demanded for lower prices of flour and bread after prices of wheat in the world market went down by 28.83 percent from January to April 2015 compared with the prices during the same period a year ago.
Despite the decline, local flour and bread prices remained stagnant.
Hence, the department called the attention of bakers and millers. The DTI, however, received no response until it gave an ultimatum until June 20.
The DTI now tapped the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to lead investigation on flour and bread prices, same as its probe to the case of garlic prices last year. (PNA)