Agricultural stakeholders said the imposition of suggested retail prices (SRPs) on some food items should be supervised closely so that consumers will benefit from the move.
Elias Jose Inciong, president of the United Broilers and Raisers Association, said imposing SRPs “is the right thing to do” as farmgate price of chicken, one of the products slapped with SRP, has dropped since January.
“However, implementing (SRPs) is an entirely different matter. SRPs’ rate of success is poor. We need to see what they are going to do differently from before,” Inciong said, noting some unscrupulous traders still took advantage of the situation.
He said the farmgate prices should also be disclosed to make sure middlemen are not jacking up their prices.
Starting today, February 24, SRPs are imposed on the following on a per kilogram basis: pork (pigue/kasim), P190; chicken (whole, dressed), P130; raw or brown sugar, P45; refined sugar, P50; cage-cultured bangus, P162; pond-cultured tilapia, P120; imported galunggong, P130; imported garlic, P70; local garlic, P120; and imported red onion, P95.
The SRPs are contained in Administrative Circular No. 01 and cover only Metro Manila.
“We will conduct regular monitoring of these agri-fishery commodities to protect consumers against hoarding and profiteering of unscrupulous traders and cartels, who manipulate for their advantage the supply, distribution, marketing and prices of basic agri-fishery goods,” said Agriculture Secretary William Dar.
