Prices of goods stable – DTI

MANILA, Philippines - Prices and supply of basic commodities remain generally stable in disaster-hit areas except for some slight increases in agricultural products, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said yesterday.

Based on a market visit conducted on Friday, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said in a statement the prices and supply of basic goods remain steady.

“There was no movement in the price of dry goods such as canned goods, bread, and noodles. The manufacturers of dry goods guaranteed that they will not increase their prices and ensure adequate supply of goods in the market,” he said.

Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Services director Leandro Gazmin said  prices of other goods such as chicken and pork as well as farm-harvested fish products like bangus and tilapia are also stable.

Some agricultural products such as cabbage, baguio pechay and onions however, reported slight price increases as truck deliveries from Benguet were affected by the flooding brought by tropical storm Maring.

Gazmin also said the price of fish product alumahan went up amid difficulty in catching fish given the bad weather in the previous days.

A price list from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics showed one kilo of alumahan now costs P160 compared to last week’s P120.

Based on the market visit, the monitoring team found that the price of premium commercial rice climbed by P2 per kilo, while the prices of regular and premium National Food Authority rice were unchanged at P27 and P32, respectively.

Gazmin said the DA will be looking into the cause of the higher premium commercial rice price.

To help those living in calamity-stricken areas, Domingo said the Trade department would put Diskwento Caravans to provide a more affordable source of basic commodities.

The price monitoring is being conducted by the government on a daily basis in areas placed under a state of calamity.

An automatic price freeze on basic commodities has been imposed in areas under a state of calamity for a maximum of 60 days.

Under Republic Act 7581 also referred to as the Price Act, an automatic price freeze is to be implemented in an area which has been declared to be a disaster area or under a state of calamity.

Domingo said vendors who are selling basic commodities at higher prices must be reported to the nearest DTI office or through the DTI hotline 751-3330.

Violators of the price freeze will be penalized with administrative fine up to P1 million and/or imprisonment of 10 years.