DTI issues school supplies price guide

MANILA, Philippines — With the school opening approaching, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has issued a price guide to assist consumers in their purchase of school items.

The “Gabay sa Pamimili ng School Supplies” was published in The STAR yesterday.

The price guide includes specific brands of notebooks (composition, spiral and writing), pad paper (Grades one to four and intermediate), pencils, ballpoint pens, crayons, erasers, sharpeners and rulers.

“After two years of using various learning modalities, schools began conducting face-to-face classes last year while President Marcos recently lifted the state of public health emergency,” the DTI said.

As the school year 2023-2024 starts on Aug. 29, the DTI reaffirmed its support for the Department of Education’s Balik Eskwela program by issuing the price guide for school supplies.

Based on the price guide, notebook prices range from P23 to P52. Grades one to four pad paper prices vary from P21 to P28.

In addition, the prices of intermediate pad paper range from P31 to P48.75.

The price guide also shows that prices of writing materials such as pencils and ballpoint pens range from P11 to P17, and from P9.75 to P 19.00, respectively.

Depending on the brand, consumers may purchase a box of crayons with eight colors for as low as P12 to as high as P34.

In contrast, a 12-color pack costs P32, while the price of a 16-color pack varies from P24 to P69.

An eraser at small, medium and large sizes is priced at P4.50 to P20.

According to the price guide, sharpeners and rulers are priced at P18 to P69 and P22 to P27.75, respectively.

“While prices of some products have remained unaffected by recent market trends, other school supplies saw price increases. This is primarily due to increased global cost of basic raw materials,” DTI Consumer Protection Group Undersecretary Ruth Castelo said.

DTI Consumer Policy and Advocacy Bureau director M. Marcus Valdez emphasized that the department is closely coordinating with the manufacturers of school supplies to ensure that prices are reasonable and supply is sufficient in the market.

The DTI said it remains committed to its mandate of promoting fair trade practices and safeguarding consumer welfare.