No price hike for flour products
PINCA. Welcome assurance.
The Philippine Association of Flour Mills (Pafmil) has assured consumers that there will be no increase in the prices of flour products. According to executive director Ric Pinca, the group’s members include Liberty Flour Mills, Wellington Flour Mills, General Milling Corporation, Pilmico Foods Corporation, RFM Corporation and Universal Robina Corporation.
San Miguel Mills and Philippine Foremost Flour Mills also assured the Department of Trade and Industry that their prices would remain unchanged while the tariff hearings are going on.
The flour millers gave this assurance amid apprehension that there could be price increases after the Department of Agriculture imposed an additional antidumping duty on imported Turkish flour. As this developed, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said he would ask bakers to patronize local flour instead.
Fair environment
The Agriculture department’s move was welcomed by the US Wheat Associates because “it ensures an open and fair trade environment for Philippine local millers.”
Trade Undersecretary Victorio Mario Dimagiba has also clarified that bakers have given assurances that they will not raise their prices.
Chito Chavez of the Philippine Federation of Bakers’ Associations also said that his group is not in favor of any price increase. He suggested that there should be a standard rate for bread products and that their expiration dates should be mandatory.
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