MANILA, Philippines - The price of bread will increase by the middle of this month even as the Trade secretary revealed that China has turned down a Philippine request to import wheat, the primary material for bread.
The announcement of the price increase was Wednesday made by an official of a bakers' group who said that most of their members will increase the prices of their products on April 15, Mark Salazar said in a GMA News' 24 Oras report.
“Yun tatlong asosasyon ng maliit na bakery ay magtataas na raw ng presyo sa April 15. Kaming mga nasa Philbaking, yung mga commercial bakers, malalaking kumpanya malamang gagawin naman ang pagtaas ng presyo sa katapusan ng buwan o kaya sa umpisa ng Mayo," said Simplicio Umali, president of Philippine Baking Industry group.
The news came as prices for rice, the staple food of Filipinos, rose the past days.
The baker’s association faulted the increasing cost of raw materials such as imported wheat as the reason for the third price hike this year.
A sack of imported wheat which could be bought previously at P950 now costs over P1,000.
Meanwhile, the cost of wheat coming from the US is expected to increase by 100 percent.
If this happens, the report said an ordinary-sized pandesal could cost P3.50 a piece in the coming days.
“We know its forthcoming several months ago… as early last year. Sinabi na namin sa DTI we have to raise prices because the raw material cost is going up and we cannot stop it…nobody can," said Ric Pinca, president of the Philippine Association of Flour Millers.
For his part, a government official said that he tried to source cheaper wheat from another country but his request was turned down.
Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila said that China has rejected his request for the Philippines to import 150,000 metric tons of wheat a year. China has the cheapest price of wheat in the world.
“Sumulat na ako mismo sa aking counterpart sa Minister ng China ngunit nakakalungkot na hindi tayo napagbigayan dahil malaki rin ang pangangailangan nila sa harina," Favila said.
For now, Favila can’t do nothing but to make an appeal to the bakers to go slow on price increase on their products. He suggested that public can try veggie noodles as alternative to pandesal.
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Topic: Prices of RP Bread to go up too (Read 2979 times)