The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has released data gathered from their monitoring of noche buena items to help consumers in buying these products as Christmas approaches.
“Prices of raw materials have gone up and we need to recognize that. But we try to mitigate the amount of increases. I think that is what our role is. Make sure the requested increases are reasonable,” Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said Tuesday.
Pascual explained that the list does not contain suggested retail prices, but rather information on the prices of noche buena products available in the market.
“There are no suggested retail prices. We just documented the going prices for the noche buena goods so consumers will be guided. You present the lowest price available, so they know they can find suppliers or stores with that kind of pricing,” he said.
Pascual said imported goods or goods which have travelled significant distances are the ones with higher prices.
He, however, said he has appealed to manufacturers to be kind.
“I met with the food manufacturers a few weeks back. I explained to them how I look at pricing. If a manufacturer produces a range of products that cater to various income classes of society, they can distribute the contributions to overhead and profit across, not uniformly, percentage terms, so that the burden on the goods that are for the low income families will bear a smaller part and the goods, premium brands for the same product line, could carry heavier share of the burden for overhead and profit,” he said.
Pascual added, households should have enough buying power to take care of their noche buena needs.
“Alam mo naman, during this period, may mga extra pay. May 14th month pay, merong bonuses. Kakayanin, tingin ko,” he said. (ABS-CBN News)
