The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Wednesday approved a one-time increase in the prices of Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal by P3.50 and P2, respectively, after bakers announced the move over the weekend.
The new suggested retail prices (SRPs) on the bread products will be released today, January 27, as branded breads will hike their prices by the same rate—in a double-whammy for Filipino consumers after oil companies also hiked pump prices by as much as P1.90 a liter on Tuesday.
The price of fish, particularly the Filipino staple “galunggong” (round scad), is also forecast to rise in the coming days as the Department of Agriculture declared its intention to import 60,000 tons of fish to help bridge a shortage in local output affected by the recent Typhoon Odette.
This is the first time in six years that bakers raised the prices of the Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal—affordable options bread that started out as a corporate social responsibility project of the bakers’ groups, the flour millers, and the DTI.
They initially planned to raise prices in the last part of 2021 but delayed it due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the holiday season.
Pinoy Tasty will be priced at P38.50 from P35 per 450-gram loaf, while Pinoy Pandesal will sell for P23.50 from P21.50 per 250-gram pack of 10.
The price increases will be spread out from February 1 to 8 to give the DTI time to publish the SRPs and the supermarkets a chance to adjust their points-of-sale or cash registers, the agency said.
The Philippine Baking Industry Group said they can no longer absorb the sharp increases in the prices of ingredients, particularly of flour, as its prices have gone up 35 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021 from P720 per sack to P980.
“This is brought about by an increase of consumption in China, which starting buying wheat grains while Russia has slowed down their wheat exports because of food security issues and wheat crop failure in America due to harsh winter and drought, or global warming,” said Philbaking president Johnlu Koa.
The group said prices of flour had climbed to P1,000 per 25 kilogram bag from P955 in the last quarter of 2021 and from P690 in August of the same year.
Koa reiterated the rule of thumb many industrial bakers follow—that for every P50 increase in prices of flour there is a corresponding P1 increase in prices of bread. Koa noted the price of flour which has nearly doubled in the last five months warrant at least P3 increase per loaf.
It mentioned that other ingredients also saw price hikes between 2020 and 2022—Shortening by 31 percent; margarine, 40 percent; white sugar, 36 percent; brown sugar, 15 percent; skim milk, 30 percent; evaporated milk, 7 percent; and condensed milk, 4 percent.
The country’s oil firms raised pump prices for the fourth consecutive week by as much as P1.90 per liter of diesel effective 6 a.m. Tuesday.
Gasoline went up by P1.45 per liter while kerosene was P1.70 more expensive.
Petron Corp., the country’s biggest oil company, said the price increases reflect the movements in the international oil market.
Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Chevron Philippines, Cleanfuel, Seaoil Philippines, and PetroGazz also announced the latest price hike.