Reaction Paper

Sue Gertrude G. Aguado
BSC-MA 3G/ MWF/ 1:30-2:30 pm

Prices of Goods to be Stable until Christmas, DTI assures

The public can expect stable prices for basic and prime commodities at least until Christmas, trade officials said yesterday. Asteria Caberte, director of DTI in Central Visayas said that their monitoring hasn't shown any sudden increase except for flour. "Ofcourse there will be increases but it will not be that much and we also try to check the prices regularly and compare them with our list of suggested retail prices", she said. Flour prices went up by an average of P15 within a week. But other products ike processed canned pork and beef maitained its prices compared to the previous week. Prices for ingredients for Christmas feasts like tomato sauce, spaghetti, noodles, macaroni and cheese also remained stable. Cabertre said they are encouraging the public to be vigilant in buying Christmas goods. "We want to encourage everyone to be careful in buying especially Christmas lights.If it's too cheap, start doubting and inform us right away so that we can immediately check on the products to avoid any accidents like fire which will cause more lost," Caberte said. Cabertre said they are already started checking commercial establishments for Christmas decorations and will step up their random inspections as December draws near./ Business reporter Aileen Gacia-Yap 

  Source: Cebu Daily News First Posted 11:24:00 10/19/2010 Filed Under: Christmas. http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/enterprise/view/20101019-298564/Prices-of-goods-to-be-stable-until-Christmas-DTI-assures

Reaction Paper

     This season of Christmas, it is normal that prices of goods will increase since there would be a high demand for those related goods. However, it would be unfair when producers increase their prices of goods unreasonably. That's why our government, through their department--the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry), should do something about this. One of their responsibilities is to control prices of goods or services if seen unreasonable. Well, basing from the article, the DTI assures stable prices of basic and prime goods this Christmas. I am happy to hear this, but I would be even happier if this would actually happen until the end of the season. Because I believe that they can't control the prices of goods of all markets in the whole country. There would be some markets that would still increase their prices unknowingly. But I still suggest that people would cooperate with our governmet by sending information to the DTI for those markets who unjustly increase their prices. Ofcourse the one sending information should be updated with the news. 

     In this article, the director of DTI said that they haven't  seen any sudden increase in prices except for flour. Since flour is an input good for some products like cake and bread, then it would affect the supply for them. An increase of an input prices of a good will shift the supply curve to the left. This will cause an increase of the price of a good with the quantity decreases. However, since it's Christmas, demand for goods with an ingredient of flour like cake and bread would still increase. And since a high number of buyers will shift the demand curve to the right, then this would still affect the price and quantity. Imagine the graph of a cake with its price and quantity with those shifts of supply curve to the left and of demand curve to the right. The equilibrium price would still increase, but for the equilibrium quantity it would be ambiguous or unclear. The DTI could implement a price ceiling for the flour but they should analyze it through the market equilibrium before making such decisions. 

     Furthermore, the DTI continually encourages people to be vigilant or careful in buying goods this season especially in terms of Christmas lights. Well, it's nice to hear this because it's very important to keep reminding people for their own safety. Specially this Christmas season, since most causes of fires are those of Christmas lights --either having short circuits or overheat. This is so important inorder to celeberate happily this season with our love ones and since our lives are far more important than any other material things here on Earth. Seeing our families and friends alive is a gift very worth celebrating for. These are the things that we should keep in mind this season of joy, hope and love. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!