MANILA – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will be adjusting suggested retail prices (SRPs) of select items by phase to assist consumers in absorbing price increases of basic goods.
In an interview with Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon on Wednesday, DTI Assistant Secretary Amanda Nograles said the agency has concurred with the request for SRP adjustments of nine out of 63 items under basic necessities and prime commodities (BNPC).
“So last week, as of Jan. 12, we approved, we released our letters of concurrence to the manufacturers of these nine items… We have settled on their computation of price adjustments,” Nograles said in Filipino.
The requests of other manufacturers to increase the SRPs of 54 items, which include canned goods, processed milk, bread, instant noodles and bottled water for food items, as well as toilet soap, candle and battery for non-food items, remain pending.
“We are actively discussing with manufacturers regarding the pending price adjustment notifications for the 54 shelf keeping units (SKUs). Note that 154, or 71 percent, of the 217 SKUs listed in the SRP bulletin are not notified of price adjustments and their prices will remain unchanged. Our consumers have the power of choice,” DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual said in a separate statement.
In the SRP bulletin, nine SKUs that have increased their SRPs include coffee and salt.
For coffee, some items have increased their prices while maintaining the weight of their products. Others have maintained the SRP of their products but decreased the weight, which Nograles said is an example of "shrinkflation," or when consumers pay the same price but get lesser quantity of the product.
“And if we look at it, the one asking for price adjustments, the last one is 2018. The price increase they asked for was justified," Nograles said.
For salt, the SRP only increased by 4 percent.
Nograles said factors such as packaging materials, logistics and labor costs contribute to the upward adjustment of SRPs of coffee and salt.
She added the average SRP increase this year is at 6 percent, lower than the average increase of 10 percent in 2022, when DTI adjusted SRPs three times that year.
It was in February 2023 that the DTI last adjusted the SRP prior to the release of the new bulletin on Jan. 12. (PNA)
