The suggested retail price (SRP) for Noche Buena items will be released in two weeks, and Trade Secretary Cristina Roque emphasized that there will be no price increase on these holiday staples this year.

This comes amid requests from some ham manufacturers for a slight price adjustment during the Christmas season.

According to Roque, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is urging manufacturers to reconsider their planned price hikes, especially during challenging economic times.

“More of the requests are coming from the DTI now to encourage the manufacturers to have no price increase for the Noche Buena. A ham manufacturer will even be announcing a price rollback. I will set up a meeting with all manufacturers to personally air our request, and we will release the list of those who already agreed to our request,” Roque told reporters.

Each year, manufacturers typically seek price increases ahead of the holiday season, but the DTI regularly negotiates with them to prevent consumers from shouldering higher costs.

“Manufacturers usually have several reasons for requesting price increases, the same way we also have our own reasons why we don't want the price increase,” Roque added.

The DTI continues to monitor prices of holiday staples such as ham, fruit cocktail, queso de bola, sandwich spread, cheese, spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, all-purpose cream, mayonnaise, and pasta.

Last year, the DTI reported that more than 100 shelf-keeping units (SKUs) of Noche Buena products saw price hikes of at least five percent.