Supermarkets brace for price hikes amid rising US dollar

With the recent strengthening of the US dollar, Philippine supermarket owners are bracing for a possible price hike in canned goods and other items using imported raw materials. But for the moment, Philippine Association of Supermarkets Inc. secretary general Federico Ples reassured consumers on Friday there will be no immediate price adjustments because there is no formal advice from manufacturers yet. “For the meantime ang delivery sa amin wala pang pagtataas (pero) nagbabadya ang pagtaas dahil tumataas ang halaga ng dollar. Kung ang manufacturing nila may ingredients na imported maaring tumaas next time mag-deliver sila. Sa ngayon wala pa pero pangamba namin next delivery mataas na," Ples said in an interview on dwIZ radio. (For the moment, we have not received any formal advice of a price hike. But the strengthening of the dollar may lead to that, especially if manufacturers import some of their ingredients and other materials for their products. Our gut feeling is that there may be some price adjustments soon.) Ples said they are expecting a possible increase in prices of canned goods because manufacturers import the metal plates they use to make the cans. “[Pero], dadalhan kami ng price list, mag-uusap kami (But before they will impose a price hike, they will send us a list of their prices, and we will discuss that with them)," he said. No hike in rice prices For its part, the National Food Authority (NFA) said there is no reason to increase prices of rice, adding that there are enough stocks of the commodity. NFA spokesman Rex Estoperez said their latest inventory showed there is still 1.9 metric tons of rice, which can last for 55 days. This is aside from 2.3 million metric tons of the commodity in commercial and household facilities, he said. “Huwag tayo mag-panic. Every time may information na ganyan, may nagpa-panic. Yung mga nananamantala siyempre gusto nila yan. Ginagawa ng pamahalaan ang lahat para ma-stabilize ang presyo (We should not panic, every time there is information of a shortage or a price hike. Some sectors tend to panic, and profiteers will take advantage of the situation. But rest assured the government is taking all steps to stabilize prices)," he said in an interview on dzBB radio. — LBG, GMANews.TV