THE Department of Trade and Industry yesterday appealed to manufacturers to minimize the price increases of Noche Buena products.
This comes as 195 out of 223 Christmas staples saw an increase in prices from 10 percent to 27 percent.
“The Department of Trade and Industry really can’t control the prices of manufacturers. These are unregulated products because these are only needed seasonally. They are neither basic nor prime,” Trade Undersecretary Ruth Castelo said.
“So, government only monitors the prices and appeals to manufacturers to at least temper the increase that they impose on the products.”
Should Noche Buena product makers raise the prices of their items, Castelo said it should be to an “absolute minimum.”
She noted the price hike this year is “significant” due to rising prices of raw materials and other products.
Among the Noche Buena items with price adjustments are ham, fruit cocktail, cheese, mayonnaise, pasta, and spaghetti sauce.
Meanwhile, according to a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) think tank, inflation may settle between 7.4 percent to 8.2 percent range in November.
Upward price pressures are from higher electricity rates, higher prices of agricultural commodities due to Tropical Storm “Paeng” as well as higher LPG prices, the BSP’s Department of Economic Research said in a statement. (ABS-CBN News)
