INFORMATION BLITZ: Paalala sa mga OFW-members ng PhilHealth: Ang PhilHealth membership and contribution ay MANDATORY ayon sa batas kaya magpamiyembro at magbayad ng kontribusyon bago umalis ng bansa. Seguraduhin ang proteksyon ng kalusugan ng iyong sarili at pamilya.

Monday, February 16, 2015

DTI holds consultative meeting with bakeshop operators

By Gideon C. Corgue

PAGADIAN CITY – Bakeshop and bakery operators, owners and managers in Zamboanga del Sur were summoned by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Friday, Feb. 13, at Guillermo Hotel here to discuss the possibility of bringing down the prices of bread products following the decrease in prices of flour and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in the market.
Provincial Director Ma. Socorro Malate-Atay told the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) that there was a drop of LPG prices up to P286.51  from January 2014 to January 2015.
On Jan. 27, the Philippine Federation of Bakers Association Inc. (PFBA) agreed to lower their prices by 15 centavos or add two grams to each pandesal.
Atay said she asked them on what actions they have undertaken to give back to their customers without necessarily asking them to lower the prices of their products like “pandesal.”

It was also learned that bakery operators are giving one or two more pieces of pandesal for every 10 pieces bought by their customers due to the lowering of prices of the flour and LPG, respectively.

“Other bakery operators retained the price of pandesal of P1 or P2 each but increased the weight to two grams a piece,” Atay said.

In spite of the decrease in the prices of flour and LPG, Atay explained, the bakery operators have still encountered certain problems like scarcity of supply of baking powder, baking soda and condensed milk especially during Christmas season. “They went as far as Davao City just to buy the ingredients,” Atay said.

Meanwhile, Atay also encouraged the bakery operators to form themselves into an association to represent their group in the socirty. However,  a handful of them came and attended the meeting.

Atay urged the bakery operators to do a “coopetition” rather than competition saying “they are friends, they compete since they are in the same business but they listen and talk to each other about their problems and concerns.”