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.