Typhoon relief may drive up ‘noche buena’ prices
As the Philippines enters the holiday season reeling from a succession of typhoons and earthquakes, prices of “noche buena” food items may go up due to an increased demand caused by relief operations, the president of a supermarket group said on Monday.
If the Philippines is hit by three more storms or an earthquake, what will affect the prices of holiday food items are the massive distribution of relief goods from both the government and private sector, said Steven Cua, president of the Philippine Amalgamated Supermarkets Association.
But Cua, who is also a member of the National Price Coordinating Council headed by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), said the typhoons’ effect on the prices of noche buena goods may be cushioned by the country’s importation of raw materials.
DTI monitoring
“We’re reliant on imported raw materials, so the local scenario of a typhoon or earthquake may not affect us as much,” he said, adding that “for me, [calamities are] not a reason to raise prices, except probably for fresh produce, which immediately feels the effect.”
Trade Secretary Cristina Roque said the department was working to ensure holiday goods remain affordable, noting the standing 60-day price freeze on basic necessities due to the state of national calamity.
“With the price freeze in effect for basic necessities and the adjusted prices reflected in the new price guide, the DTI continues to carry out the President’s call to keep basic necessities and prime commodities, and holiday goods within reach of Filipino families,” Roque said.
Higher costs
However, Cua noted that the price list released by the DTI is just a “guide,” and the decision to increase prices or not is still with the manufacturers.
Unlike basic necessities, prices of noche buena products are not regulated or approved by the DTI under the Price Act.
In last year’s noche buena guide, prices of 102 of 236 stock keeping units (SKUs) increased, while 121 were sustained and 13 others declined.
A total of 95 food items Filipinos typically served during Christmas already saw an uptick in prices this year, according to the noche buena price guide released by the DTI on Sunday.
More than half of the 256 products covered by the guide, or 129 items, remained at their price levels in 2024, while six will be cheaper to purchase following the DTI’s consultations with manufacturers.
The price increases for the 95 SKUs—the code manufacturers use to identify and track their inventory—were due to the higher costs of ingredients, packaging and labor, the DTI said.
A kilo of ham now costs P339 to P637. With other weights, the cheapest in the category is a 0.5-kilo American ham from CDO at P170, while the most expensive is a 1.5-kilo fiesta ham from Purefoods at P945.
The prices of fruit cocktail range from P61.76 to P94.41; all purpose cream, from P36.00 to P72; “nata de coco,” from P52.50 to P62.50; “kaong,” from P76.50 to P84; “queso de bola,” from P210 to P470; cheese, from P16.50 to P310, and mayonnaise, from P20.40 to P245.85.
Higher fuel prices
Meanwhile, prices of sandwich spreads now vary from P12 to P263.60; pasta or spaghetti,P27 to P116; elbow macaroni, P24 to P128.15; spaghetti sauce, P82 to P108.25; and tomato sauce, P16.75 to P94.75.
Motorists will also cope this week with rising fuel prices as fuel retailers implement another wave of price adjustments starting Tuesday.
In separate advisories on Monday, Jetti Petroleum, Seaoil, Caltex, and Petron said gasoline and diesel will increase by 50 centavos and P1 a liter, respectively.
This marks the sixth consecutive upward price adjustment for gasoline, and the third for diesel.
“Global diesel prices remain supported following Western sanctions on Russia, which is a major exporter of the middle distillate,” Jetti Petroleum president Leo Bellas earlier said.
Electricity bills up
Some local oil companies will not implement any adjustment for kerosene products amid a nationwide price freeze.
Jetti Petroleum said its price hikes will not be implemented in the following areas following the onslaught of Supertyphoon “Uwan” (international name: Fung-wong): Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, Bicol, Panay provinces, Negros Occidental and Cebu.
Adding more burden on the more than 8 million customers of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is the utility firm’s announcement on Monday of higher electricity costs for the month of November due to upward adjustments in the transmission charge and the feed-in tariff allowance (Fit-All), a scheme meant to provide fixed rates to emerging clean power sources, such as wind, solar, and small hydro plants aimed at encouraging more investments in renewable energy.
At a media briefing, the company said it will implement a hike of 15 centavos a kilowatt-hour, pushing the total power rate for a typical household to P13.4702 per kWh from P13.3182 per kWh in October.
This means that those consuming 200 kWh to 500 kWh will have to pay about P30 to P76 more to settle their electricity bills.
It said the transmission charge of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines inched up by P0.1468 a kWh.
The Energy Regulatory Commission’s decision approving another hike in the fixed electricity rate provided by renewable energy producers has also influenced the rate increase.
According to Meralco, Fit-All will be costlier by P0.0884 a kWh.
The generation charge, which accounts for more than half of the bill, softened the increase as it fell by P0.1008 a kWh to P7.9000 from P8.0008 last month.
Meralco’s distribution charge has remained unchanged since August 2022.
The company is the country’s biggest power distributor, servicing Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal, and select areas in Pampanga, Laguna, Batangas, and Quezon.
