With the continued rising of the fuel pump price, the Philippine Federation of Bakers’ Association Inc. (PFBAI) may join the call for the government to suspend the increase in the excise tax on fuel next year to prevent further hikes in the price of bread products.
Lucito “Chito” Chavez, Vice President of PFBAI noted that the stakeholders in the bakery industry are set to hold a dialogue with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) this week to discuss the looming increase in bread prices.
Chavez noted that a lot of Filipino people will benefit from the proposed suspension of the second wave of excise tax on fuel under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law.
The TRAIN law sets to schedule increase in the excise tax on fuel for the years 2018 to 2020 which of course would drive all prime commodities’ price.
Given the 9th consecutive fuel price increase with the latest of P1 per liter increase, would leave bakeries no choice but to consider increasing also the retail prices of Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal.
The PFBAI official also explained that the price of raw materials used in producing bread products, such as sugar, yeast, margarine, butter and flour, have also gone up over the past year.
“Definitely we have no other option but to increase our prices. In a time when everything is going up, it is abnormal if there will be no price movement, as well,” he said.
“For the past two years, the price of yeast increased by almost 10 to 14 percent, while the prices of sugar rose by 40 percent over the previous year. But our prices have remained the same for the past two years,” Chavez added.
But the PFBAI official did not provide an estimate as to the rate of increase in the retail prices of Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal. He said they will determine the final figure after the meeting between industry stakeholders with DTI officials this week.
The federation agreed to the appeal of the government to hold off the increase in the prices of Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal until the end of the month.
