The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) warned millers on Tuesday that they could be charged with profiteering if they fail to bring down flour prices in relation to current world market prices.

This came after bakers said on Monday they won’t be able to stop another round of price increases in their products, which they attributed to the high price of flour.

Bakers’ groups said flour millers should cut down on prices to reflect the prevailing rates of wheat in the world market.

On Tuesday, flour millers replied, saying the bakers might be the ones racking up profits.

“If there is anybody getting profit, its not the flour millers… bakers should look at their prices,” Philippine Association of Flour Millers executive director Ric Pinga said.

Flour millers said even if the price of wheat has gone down, costs in transporting shipments from abroad are still high.

Because of high demand worldwide, ships that ferry wheat cargo from producing countries, such as the United States, are in short supply.

Flour millers argued that because of this, they spend $10 million in freight costs monthly for their inventory of 125,000 metric tons (each metric ton of wheat costs $80).

Despite their arguments, the DTI remained unmoved, saying the calculation of flour millers does not coincide with the department’s calculations.

The DTI will give flour millers until Wednesday morning to submit documents as proof of the real price of flour.

Meanwhile, a petition by bakers’ groups has been filed at the DTI questioning the increase in the price of flour. With a report from Zen Hernandez, ABS-CBN News