MAKATI CITY—As chair of the National Price Coordinating Council, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Fred Pascual assured the public on Friday that the DTI is closely monitoring the stability of prices and availability of refined sugar.

“I have already instructed our monitoring teams, led by Undersecretary Atty. Ruth Castelo to regularly conduct price monitoring of sugar in selected supermarkets. We continuously work with other government agencies, especially the Department of Agriculture, to temper the impacts of inflation toward Filipino consumers and enable them to have access to affordable BNPCs,” Pascual said.

It can be recalled that last year, amid reports on price increases in sugar, the government requested the assistance of various supermarkets to bring down their prices as part of their customer assistance to the buying public.

To this day, the DTI still assists the Department of Agriculture (DA) in monitoring the price and supply of low-cost white/washed sugar in participating supermarkets and ensuring compliance with the purchase limit of one (1) kilo of sugar per customer.

“The DTI heeds the call of the President to take charge of matters concerning agricultural products on the trade side. The government is working hand in hand to ensure that consumers have access to reasonably-priced basic goods in the market,” said DTI Consumer Protection Group Undersecretary Atty. Ruth B. Castelo.

Further, as part of the whole-of-government approach to address food security issues related to price manipulation, a taskforce is being institutionalized in collaboration with the Philippine Competition Commission.

For consumer-related concerns and queries, send an email to ConsumerCare@dti.gov.ph or call the One-DTI (1-384) Hotline.*

Date of release: 08 May 2023