INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Members of the Philippine Baking Industry Group Inc. (PhilBaking) are rolling back prices of “Pinoy Tasty” in June as the new school year opens.
In a statement, PhilBaking has announced that prices of the popular Pinoy Tasty will decrease by P0.50 per loaf, from P37.50 to P37 per loaf, effective on June 11.
The Department of Trade and Industry’s suggested retail prices for bread are as follows: Pinoy Tasty at P37.50 per 450-gram loaf and Pinoy Pandesal at P22.50 per 250-gram pack of 10 pieces.
“This price rollback of Pinoy Tasty is part of our social effort to help students as well as their parents, especially now that start of new school year is fast approaching,” PhilBaking president Walter Co. said.
Co urged local flour millers to respond positively to bakers’ appeal for cheaper flour prices to reflect the softening of wheat prices in the world market.
Global wheat prices have dropped 13 percent to $347 per metric ton from its July 2012 price of $398 percent. However, local premium hard flour prices remain at a high level of P890 to 930 per 25-kilogram sack.
Pinoy Tasty will be offered at P37 per (450-gram) loaf while the price of Pinoy Pandesal will remain unchanged at P22.50 per 10-piece pack weighing 250 grams.
To make the price of Pinoy Tasty lower, PhilBaking said, member-bakers have been using imported flour with the lower price than that of locally milled flour. Imported flour price ranges from P840 to 860.
Malabon Long Life Trading, the lone importer of Indonesian flour is trying to meet the demand of lower-priced imported premium flour, which is of the same quality as the locally milled premium flour similarly made from US wheat.
Bakers are now pushing for the flour importation to bring in competition in the country to lower prevailing prices of local flour, which can result to lower bread prices for the benefit of the consuming public.