Nestle cuts coffee SRP as raw material prices drop

Food and beverage firm Nestle Philippines Inc. has slashed the suggested retail price ( SRP) for coffee to reflect lower prices of raw materials.

In an email message to Trade Undersecretary Victorio Mario Dimagiba, Edita De Leon, head of corporate affairs at Nestle Philippines said the company is implementing a price rollback for the 25gram (g) and 50-g Nescafe Classic coffee effective April 12.

The 25-g Nescafe Classic refill pack’s new SRP is P19.70, down from the previous selling price of P20.75.

As for the 50-g Nescafe Classic standup pouch, the new selling price is P38.95, lower than the previous price of P41.

Dimagiba said in a text message the firm decided to undertake price cuts to reflect “lower raw materials cost of robusta coffee since the last quarter and the fourth quarter.”

“Also, our price monitoring show their retail price is much lower than SRP so they decided to align SRP with actual monitored prices,” he added.

The price rollback follows reductions implemented for powdered milk brands as well as detergent soap earlier this year amid lower prices of raw materials and oil, as well as the easing of congestion at the ports.

In a related development, trucking charges have been brought back to the level prior to the port congestion.

Shipping lines such as APL, Maersk, MCC, Wan Hai, Yang Ming, Sinotrans, TS Lines, Hapag Lloyd, CMA, SITC, COSCO and Alexandra Lines have also withdrawn port congestion charges.

Trucker fees ballooned to around P30,000 last year during the height of the congestion at Manila's ports. Businesses were also charged port congestion and emergency fees per shipment.