PSC to raise price ceilings in provinces.

Media

Part of Business Day

Title: PSC to raise price ceilings in provinces.
Language: English
Source: Business Day Volume XIV (No. 132) August 29, 1980
Year: 1980
Subject: Price indexes.; Price marks.
Rights
Fulltext: Trade deficit now seen at $1.78B Rural bankers alarmed over palay underpricing ‘Farmers unable to pay loans’ Rural bankers have expressed alarm over the reported activities of traders who underprice palay sold to them by the farmers. Eugenio S. Perez, Jr., president of the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines, said that in Panay island, palay is selling at half the Pl.40 per kilo buying PCMP firms • Loan from Germany A loan agreement of DM33 mil lion (Pl39 million) between the Federal Democratic Republic of Germany and the Philippine govern ment will be signed this morning at the Ministry of Foreign Affaire, MFA’ officials said. The loan will be allocated to the following gov ernment projects: Imelda Settle ment Project in Southern Leyte; Dagat-dagatan Resettlement Pro ject; procurement of special equip ment for the National Cartographic and Photogrammetric Center; and procurement of two container cranes for the Manila International Port. • No oil strike The oil reserve expected ■ to be within the Batas 1 structure in offshore northwest Palawan has “migrated” and Philippines Cities Service, Inc. (PCSI) has decided to temporarily plug the wildcat oil well, the Ministry of Energy an nounced yesterday. Based on a series of drill stem tests (DSTs) and visual examinations of core samples gathered from the well’s borehole, PCSI concluded that the oil once trapped within the Bata* 1 structure Is no longer there and that the initial oil shows were merely "residuals." • Senegal buying RP rice Senegal wants to Import Philippine rice and other products, and has proposed negotiation of a bilateral Hade agreement. A government buying mission from the West African nation arrived Wednesday afternoon for rounds of talks with local officials from Aug. 28 to 31. Headed by Director Amador Moustapha Tall of the Senegalese Ministry of Commerce, the sixman mission visited Thailand before coming to the Philippines. Trade consultations with Philippine gov ernment officials are going on. price of the National Grains Authority. These depressed pri ces have so shrunk the income of fanners that they are unable to pay their loans. Perez said that with the increase in the target area of the new phase of Masagana-99, the prices would go down further. He suggested that the government enforce a floor price for palay and make the National Grains Authority buy more its present share of 18% of the total rice production of the country. urged to buy more parts made locally The Consolidated Automotive Parts Producers Association Inc. (CAPPA) has proposed that the car firms participating in the Pro gressive Car Manufacturing Program (PCMP) be required to acquire some 40 parts and components from local suppliers. CAPPA said some of these parts are already being used by PCMP participants. Under the present guidelines, PCMP participants are required to source locally only two items — tires and batteries. Page 8 The Stock Market Trading on mlnei provided the only excitement at the exchanges yester day but the Issues lost steam at the homestretch. Activity In the oil sector was light. None of the Issues posted gains while losers gave up small points. Combined peso turn over at P8.8 million dropped by almost 30% from Wednesday’s P12.1 million. Psge 16 The country’s trade deficit may hit $1,784 million this year, a rise of 15.8% over 1979, according to a report from the Ministry of Trade. The report added that export receipts may grow by only 31%, a slower rate than last year’s 34%, while imports would grow by 27%. The ministry attributed the decline in growth to the projected slower performance of nontraditional exports - 30% this year (to $2,769 mil lion) as against 42% in 1979. Oil bill increases were likewise expected to swell the trade gap, according to the ministry. MM jeepney men now want higher fares Metro Manila jeepney operators and drivers, crumbling, under the pressure of high fuel prices, have asked the Board of Transportation to increase their fares. The Buklod ng Manggagawa sa Sasakyan, head ed by Ceferino P. Ginete, is asking for an increase in the basic fare of from 60 centavos to 70 centavos for the first five kilometers. It is also asking for a half-centavo raise in the per kilometer rate, from 11.5 to 16.5 centavos per kilo meter. Corporate Developments BPI-Comtrust merger nearly covered by capital gains tax The Batasang Pambansa committee on finance yesterday debated on whether the exemption from the capital gains tax for banks merging or consolidating in order to obtain a license for universal banking, would be made effective upon approval of the relevant Cabinet bill. A timing like that would penalize banks that have already merged. It was a close shave for the Bank of the Philippine Islands which recently acquired the Commercial Bank and Trust Co. For tunately for BPI, its merger is not yet consummated. Page 7 Tanduay eyes export to offset slump in sales on local market Tanduay Distillery, Inc., suffering a slump in sales, is aiming for a share of the United States rum market. It will ship an initial 2,000 cases next month to Texas and California, from where It hopes to expand to other states. Page 7 Delta Motor's Mini-Cruiser, Tamaraw to be sold in Egypt Delta Motor Corp, reported signing an agreement in principle for the assembly and distribution of its Delta Mini-Cruiser and Tamaraw in Egypt. At least 3,000 units worth a total of $15 million are In the order. « — PSC to raise price ceilings in provinces The Price Stabilization Council (PSC) will adjust the price ceilings for essential commodities in the provinces shortly. The PSC said the adjustments will be raised de pending on the cost of transport from Manila, where most of the commodities come from. The prices of rice, corn, sugar, milk, cooking oil and school supplies will thus vary according to the nearness of the place to Manila. Only the prices of canned fish have not yet been computed, the PSC said. Sugar workers hold convention Sugar mill and .plantation workers start a two-day national unification convention tomorrow in Bacolod City. Besides putting 560,000 plantation workers and 30,000 mill workers together under one union, convention organizers said they will' also discuss ways to force the government to lift their employers’ exemption from the various wage decrees. Page 8 INSIDE SECTION II DISCOUNT RATE: MITI Minister Tana ka lays the .75% cut In Bank of Japan discount rata Is too small. .... .Page 9 MORATORIUM: The US General Ac counting Office urges a moratorium on foreign acquisitions of US banks with assets of $100 million or more . . Page 9 TRADE DEFICIT: The US trade deficit dropped In July to $1.85 billion from June's $2.28 billion, mainly because of a 17% drop In oil Imports...............Page 9 UK UNEMPLOYMENT: The total of unemployed in Britain this month topped 2 million for the first time slnca World War II. . ............................Page 9 OIL STOCKPILE: Japan plans to In crease Its oil stockpile to 30 million kiloliters.........................................Page 10 MONETARY MOVEMENTS: Gold closed higher at $634 an ounce In Lon don, firm In Hong Kong at $627. The US dollar was little changed in New York but down in London end Tokyo. Page 10 COMMODITY FUTURES: Prices of selected commodity futures close mixed .................................................. Page 11 REGULAR FEATURES Tax Talk.................... . Page 2 Business & the Law . . . .........2 World Situationer .... . . . . .4 Currency Conversion Table. . 10 Forex, Interbank Rate. ... .10 Monetary Movements. . .. . .10 Market Reports........... ... .11 Shipping & Trade .... ....12 Off Hours ............... .. . .14 Psge 7 Page 8 Business Day Friday, August 29, 1980 Rural bankers alarmed Nontraditional exports’ growth slower over palay underpricing Trade deficit now seen at S1.78B Rural bankers have expressed alarm over the reported activities of some palay traders and dealers who underprice the palay sold to them by thousands of farmers. Speaking for the rural bankers, Eugenio S. Perez, Jr., president of the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP), yesterday said the most depressed palay prices are now in Panay Island where the staple is sold by farmers for as low as P0.70 per kilo, half of the gov ernment support price for palay of Pl.40 per kilo. Perqz said a substantial portion of the farmers’ harvest are chan neled to local traders who, because of the abundance of the commo dity, can dictate their own prices. He also said farmers are forced to dispose of their produce at mini mal or losing prices because of the lack of available markets and fear of sudden weather changes that .could destroy their harvests. SQUEEZE. The depressed buying prices of palay have so shrunk the income of the farmers that they are unable to pay their loans. Perez warned that if the situa tion is not given immediate atten tion, the government’s rice product ion program to boost farmers’ in come could suffer serious setbacks. In view of these problems, Perez suggested a two-pronged formula: the establishment of a floor price for palay to be enforced among grains traders and for the National By JUANITO G. VICENCIO, Jr. Reporter Grains Authority to raise further its allocation for the procurement of palay to stabilize its price. A floor price for palay, he said, will protect the rice farmers and NGA’s increased buying capability would help tip the scale in favor of the farmers. According to the RBAP pres ident, a survey conducted late last year by the National Food and Agricultural Council showed that 25% or 50% of those participating in the government’s Masagana-99 rice production program were encountering serious problems in marketing and pricing their pro duce. With the increase in the target area to be planted this year under Phase 14 of the program, Perez ex pressed fear that palay prices could go down further. BUYING PROG RAM. He like wise stressed the need to restudy NGA’s palay buying program to find ways of increasing the agency’s capability to absorb whatever is produced by the farmers. At present, he said, NGA pur chases only about 18% of the total national harvest at the government support price of Pl.40 per kilo. The rest of the harvest goes to private traders and dealers. He said RBAP will soon come up with a formal recommendation to President Marcos on these problems of the farmers. By RIGOBERTO D. TIGLAO the same in 1980, with traditional exports generating 53% of export receipts as against nontraditionals’ 46%. Nontraditional manufactures will slightly increase to 34% of ex ports, while nontraditional un manufactured exports will decline to 12%. The study observed that sugar products would boost traditional exports, increasing 216% to $752 million. This was attributed to a favorable rise in world sugar prices as well as to the increase in anti cipated volume when the Inter national Sugar Agreement (ISA) as world prices reach the $0.22/lb. level. In contrast, the study predicted •an unfavorable year for coconut ex ports, whose value will decrease slightly to $962 million despite an increase in volume, due to a 14% decline in world prices. The decline in prices was attributed to the oversupply of vegetable oils in the world market as a result of the re cently imposed US embargo on the USSR. Sugar workers hold confab The country’s trade deficit for 1980 is projected to reach at least $1,784 million, or 15.8% more than last year, according to a report by the Ministry of Trade’s planning service. This is despite favorable world market prices for most of the major export products, with the except ion of coconut products. Expected increases in oil bills will further swell the trade deficit. The Central Bank has reported that as of July this year, the trade deficit stood at $938 million — 53% of the trade ministry report’s pro- „BMU1ISU ougcu jected trade deficit for 1980. The • quota is temporarily lifted Central Bank’s current figures show , • ■ ——— ■ a monthly trade deficit of $134 million as against the ministry’s .. projected monthly deficit of $149 j million. , The trade ministry’s report pro- j jected that export receipts will in- , crease by 31% to $6,046 million in j 1980 — a growth rate lower than . last year’s 34%. On the other hand, imports will grow by 27% to , $7,830 million. The slowdown in export growth is attributed to the anticipated dec- 1 line in the rate of growth of non-, < traditional exports, projected at < 30% this year as against 42% in < 1979. Value of nontraditional ex- I ports is estimated to reach $2,769 1 million. 1 In comparison, traditional ex- ] ports are projected to grow by 30%, i slightly higher than last year’s I growth rate of 29%. Traditional s exports are expected to earn j $3,232 million this year. t Next to sugar, mineral products will post the highest growth rate of 42%, increasing in value from $566 million to $804 million. Growth rates were estimated at 27% for copper concentrates, 115% for gold, and 9% for chrome ores. Combined value of all nontrad itional manufactures was projected to increase by 32% to $2,039 mil lion. In nontraditional manufac tures, electronic equipment and parts, machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, and fur nitures were each estimated to have a growth rate of 36%. Combined value of nontradi tional unmanufactured products, on the other hand, was projected to increase by 25% to $730 million. The highest growth rate will be for nickel with a 50% growth, bananas with 30%, rice with 28%, and iron ore agglomerates with 20%. ed from giving the P60 monthly emergency allowance provided under Presidential Decree No. 1123, the P60 allowance under PD No. 1614, and the P90 allowance under PD No. 1634. The two-day national unification convention of trade unions in the sugar industry will start tomorrow in Bacolod City, with labor leaders expected to press the government to enforce previous wage adjust ments for sugar workers. Depressed wages in the sugar in dustry have become a potent issue among mill and plantation workers. Sugar workers want higher wages particularly because of the booming price of sugar in the world market. Labor leaders are insisting that the government lift the wage decree exemptions given to planters and millers when sugar’s world market price was low. With such exempt ions, they said, wages of sugar work ers have lagged behind those earned by workers in other industries, they said. The convention seeks to unify an estimated 560,000 plantation workers and 30,000 mill workers in the country, in accordance with the “one-union, one industry" concept in the Labor Code. Labor leaders intend to use the convention as a forum to discuss plans on k_.. ,___ ___ _________ _ ___ _________, ment to lift wage exemptions it the effective composite (buying) granted to sugar employers. price of sugar will be Pl 10 per To date, employers are exempt- picul. ADD’L BENEFITS. Another likely subject to be discussed is the re quest for the government to grant additional economic and social be nefits to sugar workers to enable them to cope with the high cost of living. Sugar workers’ unions, in fact, have been planning to launch a na tionwide strike particularly if the Philippine Sugar Commission (Philsucom) fails to raise to Pl 10 per picul sugar’s effective composite price (its buying based on the ave rage of the prices for reserve, do mestic and export sugar) it pays to millers and planters. Workers said the increase, from the present P105 per picul, will allow employers to satisfy the requirement of wage decrees from which they have been exempted. —----------------- --------------- The government has declared how to force the govern-, that for the 1979-1980 cropyear, Ilf* I* ALFONSO sees nothing daring about going topless... COMPOSITION. The study noted that the composition of Philippine exports will remain substantially FOREST PRODUCTS. On the other hand, favorable world market conditions were expected to in crease forest products exports by 8% this year to $521 million. The bulk of this increase will be due to lumber exports whose value is ex pected to reach $274 million. Even with an expected smaller volume of plywood and veneer exports, the study noted, improved market prices will raise their export value to $162 million. Despite higher prices, log exports will decrease by 40% to 85% million as a result of a concerted government drive to con tain log exports. OTHER EXPORTS. Projections for the other major exports were: * an $88-million increase in canned pineapple shipments due to growing demand and better prices; * slight $26-million increase in abaca fiber exports as a result of favorable world prices, although the government has undertaken a drive to discourage exports of the raw material; and, * a $36-million increase in the value of unmanufactured tobacco exports. Car firms asked Prov’l price ceilings to rise The Price Stabilization Council (PSC) announced yesterday that the price ceilings of essential commodities in the provinces would be adjusted shortly. The PSC said the adjustments were computed corresponding to the cost of transporting the goods from Manila, where most of the commodities originate. As such, commodities under the control law such as rice, corn, sugar, milk, cooking oil and school supplies will vary in prices accord ing to the distance travelled. For instance, the PSC said, the price ceilings in Isabela, Cagayan and Ilocos provinces would be higher than those in Bulacan, Rizal and Laguna. Similar adjustments will be applied to the prices in Mindanao, Visayas and the Bicol region. Most of the prices of these essential commodities have already been computed except for canned fish which is still awaiting the -L. Qf go-»lgnai from the Mlnlitry SEC presses bid to take over farmers' association to buy more RP-made parts— The Consolidated Automotive Parts Producers Association, Inc. The First Lady Mrs. Imelda ____ __________ ,________ , ___ Romualdez Marcos yesterday ex- (CAPPA) has proposed that the car panded the government’s “Palayan - - —=- -------— ng Bay an” program to bring down prices of foods. It is now time to expand the ^program to “Pagkain ng Bayan” to make the country self-sufficient in foods and bring, down their prices, said Mrs. Marcos, who is also human settlements minister, during the third national awards ceremo nies of the Palayan ng Bayan at the Heroes Hall of Malacanang. The First Lady awarded cash prizes and plaques to the winning provinces. compared to our BOTTOMLESS BEER MUG. All you can drink for only P10.00 From 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. Get hoohed. PUB & STEAKHOUSE Josephine Re Greenbelt Park, Makati, Tel. N LOpen 11:30 am ■ 2:30 Monday thr The Securities and Ex change Commission will shortly appeal to the Sup reme Court to reconsider its Injunction order which stopped SEC from taking over the management of a farmers' association In Batangas. The court last week stopped an SEC manage ment committee from man aging the Samahan ng Magsasaka ng Kanlurang Batangas which the SEC took over because of alleged irregular ities. The order also halted the election, of Samakaba’s officers, which the commit tee scheduled for tomorrow. Complaints reached the SEC early this year that Samakaba/offlcers were get ting into the Tunds of the association. Some members were reportedly disgrunted with the officers and de elded to solicit proxy votes for the election of another group. The SEC came In when a scrimmage between the two factions endangered the in terest of the 1,500 mem bers, a ranking SEC official said. SEC POSITION. The official said the SEC will try to convince the High Court that the Injunction order is untimely, since preparations for the elections have been made. The SEC took over the association to prevent possi ble “malicious changes" in the records while the invest igation is ongoing, he said. The money officially in volved amounts to only a few thousands, but “underthe-table deals" were re portedly reaching millions, he added. Agriculture. These adjustments are due for release to local price stabilization councils in the cities, provinces and municipalities. These regulations supply to retail outlets not only in the provinces but also in Metro Manila where prices were adjusted last Aug, 12, 1980, The PSC also noted that prices of pork, chicken and eggs are much lower In the provinces than In Metro Manila. This explains why these commodities were not In cluded In the new price adjust ments, PSC said, = Philippines NewaAgeney firms participating in the progress ive car manufacturing program (POMP) be required to acquire some 40 parts and- components from local suppliers. Under existing guidelines, PCMP participants are required to source locally only tires and batteries. However, CAPPA contends that local manufacturers of automotive parts and components are capable of supplying certain components in cluded in CKD (completely knocked down) packages being imported by car assembers. Among the parts and compo nents recommended by CAPPA are mufflers, exhaust and tail pipes, radiators, brake drums, discs for disc brakes, alternators, starters, leaf and coil springs for the suspen sion system, rubber suspension bumpers, fuel nose, axle shafts, pro peller shafts and wiper motor. MM jeepney men see fares hike Metro Manila jeepney operators and drivers, resolving earlier that they would not seek fare increases, have crumbled under the weight of the recent hike in gasoline prices and firm stand of the Board of Transportation (BOT) ro relegate them to secondary routes. The Buklod ng Manggagawa sa Sasakyan, headed by Ceferino P. Ginete, yesterday formally filed with the BOT a petition for an increase of P0.10 (from P0.60 to P0.70) in the basic fare and P0.05 (from P0.115 to P0.165) for each succeeding five kilometers. The group also sought a P0.10increase in the student fare rate (from P0.45 to P0.55). •
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