DTI: No price hike for 'almost all' Noche Buena items

MANILA — The price of “almost all” Noche Buena items will stay the same as that of last year, despite higher manufacturing costs due to the coronavirus pandemic, the trade department said Monday.

Only one manufacturer asked to increase the price of 1 or 2 of its products, said Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.

"So, it is safe to say na halos lahat po ng produkto ay hindi po nagtaas ng presyo compared to 2019," he said in a public briefing. "In other words, gusto po nilang bigyan ng masayang Pasko ang ating mga kababayan, ito pong mga brands na ito at nag-agree po sila ng walang price increase dito sa mga Noche Buena products."

(Almost all products would not raise their prices compared to 2019. In other words, they want to give a merry Christmas to our compatriots and they agreed that there would be no price increase for Noche Buena products.)

The brands that said they would not increase prices include San Miguel Purefoods, CDO, Century, Viriginia Foods, URC, Dole, RFM, Amigo, Ideal, Mondelēz, New Zealand, King’s Sue, NutriAsia, Unilever, Nestle, and Snow Mountain, he said.

"They are absorbing the cost, kahit tumaas nang kaunti iyong increase ng cost nila (even if their cost slightly increased)," said Lopez.

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The Philippines is forecast to see a 6.9 percent economic contraction this year, the World Bank has said, the biggest since the 1980s and worse than the government's projected 5.5 percent decline.

Its recovery has been constrained by an unrelenting first wave of infections since March, with more than 390,000 cases, Southeast Asia's highest number, limiting its ability to fully reopen businesses, and restart domestic and international tourism. - With a report from Reuters

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