Costs of beef, cans lift price of canned goods

Some brands of canned goods have reported price to adjustments, according of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Zaide Bation, consumer welfare chief at DTI in Cebu, said CDO and Ligo are the two canned good brands that have recently implemented price increases.

At least three kinds of CDO canned meat have increased in prices by P.55, P.45 and P2.45.

Also, a Ligo corned beef variety has increased by 1% or P.40.

Bation said manufacturers attributed the increase to the high cost of beef material and tin cans.

She also said the continuous weakening of the Philippine peso against the US dollar is another key factor cited by manufacturers.

The DTI had warned consumers that there might be a slight increase in prices of noche buena or Christmas goods during the upcoming holiday season.

DTI said the weakening peso is likely to affect the prices of noche buena goods particularly those with imported materials.

DTI is yet to release the suggested retail price (SRP) list for noche buena products when the holiday season nears.

Noche buena goods include ham, fruit cocktail, cheese, sandwich spread, mayonnaise, queso de bola, pasta/spaghetti, elbow and salad macaroni, spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce and creamer.

DTI earlier said some manufacturers manifested that they are unable to hold their prices due to the depreciation of peso against the US dollar and surge in price of raw materials.

Two manufacturers of ham reported a price increase of less than 5 percent on their products.

Similarly, a Queso de Bola company admitted that there is a slight increase on its product, DTI said.

Some manufacturers reported no price increase in their products despite the spike in prices of locally manufactured flour mainly because they get their supply abroad.

“Generally, there are no price increases until December for pasta and sauces, cheese, ham and canned tuna because competition is at play due to number of brands. They even outreach on promotions and discounts because they compete on market share,” Trade Chief Ramon Lopez earlier said in a statement earlier.

Manufacturers had assured that the supply of noche buena products are adequate until the end of the year.