DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/14 May) — Basic and prime commodities will be made available at discounted prices when the Department of Trade and Industry rolls out its Diskwento Caravan this month.
The DTI has talked with manufacturers and suppliers to roll out the Diskwento Caravan following the success in Metro Manila in March this year.
Discounts will be as much as 20 percent, similar to what was given in the National Capital Region.
The basic commodities identified for sale at discounted prices are canned sardines, powdered, evaporated and condensed milk, coffee and detergent bars. The prime commodities are soft and hard flour, luncheon meat, corned beef, instant noodles, vinegar, patis, soy sauce, toilet soap, and construction materials like cement, hollow blocks, common wire nails, steel wire, steel bars and batteries.
Lou Pasawa, chief of the DTI Davao City Field Office, said the Diskwento Caravan will be held on May 30 to 31 in Davao City.
In the Davao region, the Diskwento Caravan will be launched in Mati, Davao Oriental in the last week of May, although similar activities will be held in other capital towns and cities.
In its monitoring in March and April, prices of most of the basic commodities went down, except for two condensed milk products which went up by as much as 3.07 percent, from P45.60 per 300 milliliter can in March to P47 in April.
Two coffee brands in the 25-gram packaging also went up by as much as 7.05 percent, from P14.80 per pack in March to P15.85 in April.
The lower priced sardine can went down by 5.88 percent, from P11.90 to P11.20 over the same period.
While one evaporated milk product raised its price to P35.05 for 410 ml can from P33.50, the price of two other milk products in 370 ml can went down, one from P34 to P33.20, the other from P46.50 to P44.75.
Two detergent bar brands cut their prices to an average price level now of P16, although one brand increased its price to P20.
Among the construction materials, prices of common wire nails, steel wire, steel bars and batteries increased. One ordinary pair of battery, size D black was being sold for P50.
80 when it was only P47.30 a month earlier. (MindaNews)