DTI’s new SRP for BNPC out, 54 requests still pending

The Department of Trade and Industry on Wednesday released its updated suggested retail price for basic necessities and prime commodities, heeding the request of manufacturers who have been clamoring for price increases since last year.

However, 54 notifications of price adjustments are still under assessment and the final SRP Bulletin is targeted for release this March 2024.

According to DTI-Consumer Protection Group spokesperson, Assistant Secretary Amanda Nograles, the latest SRP covers price adjustments of nine Stock Keeping Units or SKUs, or the number (usually eight alphanumeric digits) that retailers assign to products to keep track of stock levels internally.

She said the nine SKUs comprised of three SKUs of coffee and 6 SKUs of salt.

For coffee, 3 out of 9 SKUs have reflected a reduction in weight with either a decrease in price or no change in price. The remaining SKUs have retained their prices. For salt, 3 SKUs increased by only 4 percent,” Nograles told reporters in a Viber message.

Further, she emphasized that these SKUs were last adjusted in 2018 and 2022.

“Consumers have the option to choose considering that 154 or 71 percent of the SKUs in the SRP Bulletin have retained their prices. Consumers may access the SRP bulletin via the DTI website: https://www.dti.gov.ph/konsyumer/latest-srps-basic-necessities-prime-commodities/,” she said.

The last SRP bulletin that was released by the DTI was on 8 February 2023.