DTI ‘normalizing’ SRP list amid price increase requests

The costs of some raw materials have posted spikes in recent days, including oil prices due to the attack on Saudi Arabia’s crucial oil assets

DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez inspects the price tags of the various merchandise in a supermarket.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is coming up with a shorter list of basic necessities and prime commodities covered by suggested retail prices (SRP) in the face of stabilizing inflation, and even amid requests for higher SRP in some commodities due to an increase in production costs.

Trade chief Ramon Lopez said the agency has been receiving requests from some canned meat, sardines and even noodles producers for higher SRP as raw materials and other inputs used for production register cost increases.

“But (that’s just) some brands, not all of the brands. Our group is reviewing it. But I told them not to release it yet because we’re also trimming down the SRP,” Lopez told reporters at the sidelines of a conference in Pasay City on Monday.

“We’re bringing it back to its normal list of I think 140 plus. We are now 250. We enhanced it last year because of the inflation issue,” he added. He added the DTI will first trim the existing SRP list before coming up with an updated SRP.

Last year, the DTI expanded its list of items covered by the SRP to help ease the impact of climbing prices amid soaring inflation, which hit a high of 6.7 percent in September 2018.

As of August this year, inflation has cooled down to 1.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the costs of some raw materials have posted spikes in recent days, including oil prices due to the attack on Saudi Arabia’s crucial oil assets which cut down its production by half, or five percent of the global crude supply.

Pork prices in the global market has also been rising due to the outbreak of the African swine fever in several countries, including the Philippines.

Asked if the agency was inclined to approve the producers’ request for higher SRP, Lopez said that it will depend on how much the costs are up.

“But these are very minimal increases. That’s an increase of about two to five percent (of their SRP). We won’t approve more than 10 percent,” he said.