Shrinkflation: DTI okays downsizing of key goods
However, consumers should brace for more price—or product size—adjustments in the coming months.
The trade official noted that they were still assessing 54 notifications for price increases or product size reductions submitted by manufacturers of consumer goods.
About two weeks ago, Nograles said that there were pending price increase petitions from makers of sardines, processed milk, bread, instant noodles, bottled water, processed canned meat and beef, and condiments.
She said that manufacturers of toilet soap, candle and battery have also submitted petitions to raise prices.
“But their approval is not likely to be issued immediately because discussions and evaluation by the DTI are still ongoing, so there’s no assurance yet if these will be approved,” Nograles pointed out.
Cheaper alternatives
She said that they would again release in March an update to the SRP bulletin, which serves as a buying guide to consumers. In the latest SRP bulletin, three stock keeping units (SKUs) of coffee and six SKUs of salt were affected. An SKU is the technical term used by stores to identify and categorize specific inventories by brand, product type and weight.
“For coffee, the SKUs with adjusted prices reflected reduction in weight with either decrease in price or no change in price,” Nograles later told reporters.
In particular, Nescafe was among the two brands reflecting the changes, with a 25-gram pack of its classic blend that costs P21.50 getting its content reduced to 23 grams and its price to P20.Meanwhile, a 50-gram pack of the same Nescafe classic which costs P43.25 had its weight decreased to 46 grams and its price to P40.
Lastly, a 20-gram Blend 45 that costs P4.10 got its weight reduced to 18 grams with no price change.
“For salt, the SKUs increased by only 4 percent,” according to Nograles.
She highlighted that the prices for these two food items were last adjusted in 2018 and 2022, respectively.
The trade official advised consumers that they still have the option to choose cheaper products considering that 154, or 71 percent, of the SKUs in the SRP bulletin have so far retained their prices.
“For instance, there are three brands of three-in-one coffee that are seen to increase their prices, so consumers still have nine other brands to choose from,” Nograles said. INQ
