Suggested retail prices (SRPs) of Noche Buena products should be maintained at the very least if not rolled back, a consumer group said.
Vic Dimagiba, president of Laban Konsyumer Inc. (LKI) said the annual rate of inflation for the food index even fell, by 1.3 percent last month and was reported at .3 percent in August .
Given these positive numbers, Dimagiba said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) should not preempt issuing public statements there will be increases in the SRP of Noche Buena products.
Dimagiba cited insiders as saying DTI will issue new SRPs on Noche Buena products today, October 31.
“The DTI should instead focus on studying how much it should pass on to the consumers the positive inflation in terms of lowering SRP. The outlook for inflation for the balance three months remain very low,” Dimagiba added.
He said the cost of raw materials of Noche Buena products have remained stable while electricity rates and diesel prices have been steady the past three to five months
Dimagiba said prices of pasta and bread should be unchanged if not lower as wheat cost had remained low this year.
For processed ham ranging from the basic 500-grams to the one-kilogram Chinese sweet ham, LKI called on meat processors to call off their planned increases as consumers continue to reel from fear of the risk to health of pork contaminated with African swine fever.
