Price control not a govt priority, says DTI chief

The government is not that much concerned about imposing price controls on certain commodity prices, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said Monday, noting the non-imposition of price ceilings is a consensus among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). “We will continuously monitor prices first to see if there is profiteering," he told trade and industry reporters in Makati. Domingo, who was also a resource person at a Senate inquiry Monday, told the committee on food and agriculture that price control can only be imposed “upon the approval of the President." He was replying to a query by Senator Francis Pangilinan, who asked Domingo what the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is doing to address the possibility of "artificial spikes" in consumer prices.
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV Bread prices, other products, up On Monday, prices of bread rose as record wheat prices in the world market induced higher flour prices. The latest DTI price monitoring report showed last week’s prices of various milk brands, canned beef products, flour, cement, and cabbage rose from a week earlier. The price of a 378-ml Alpine evaporated filled milk was up 0.6 percent to P44.50 because of the "high cost of imported skimmed milk powder," according to the report. It said the price of a 175-gram Argentina corned beef increased 7.9 percent to P32.25 and Argentina’s 170-gram beef loaf was 4.5-percent more expensive at P17.25, driven by the "high cost of meat materials in the world market." The report also said the price of flour surged 1.1 percent-3.3 percent to as high as P930 per 25-kg bag for the superior variety. Prices of Republic cement gained 2.6 percent to P200 per 40-kg bag, and that of Rizal cement moved up 2.5 percent to P205, largely on "the high cost of fuel in the world market," the DTI said. Cabbage prices also went up 25 percent to P50 per kilo as supply temporarily shrunk in Luzon, the DTI reported.
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV Controls may induce supply shortage As price ceilings may induce supply shortages of some consumer products, government is “hesitant" about imposing controls, Domingo told the Senate committee. In certain commodities, the department may come up with suggested retail prices (SRP). “An SRP is not a price cap, it’s just an advisory where the selling price of a certain commodity should be," according to the trade secretary. In the same hearing, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said his department is also open to tagging agriculture products with SRPs after further consultations. “I think we can again sit down [and discuss that]," he said. Alcala said the government may "just zero in" on specific retailers or sellers who refuse to follow the price range of some products. In his interview with reporters in Makati, Domingo said that in the ASEAN economic ministers meeting last month in Laos, Domingo said there was concern with increasing commodity prices in the world. ASEAN economic ministers, however, see no need for price controls. “I asked several countries… if they plan to impose price control, and they aren’t," he said. Inflation quickened to 4.3 percent last month, the fastest in nine months, on rising food and housing costs, the National Statistics Office reported on March 4. — With a report by Kimberly Jane Tan/JE/VS, GMA News