Always Popular — Cost Updates
Here’s last week’s "official" gas prices. Prices are not directly controlled by the government, but they are so closely monitored (and import duties adjusted up and down) that they sometimes seem that way.
The latest adjustments brought the prices of premium unleaded gasoline to between P43.37 and P47.65 a liter, diesel to P35.91 and P40 a liter, and kerosene to P41.30 and P45.80 a liter.
Yesterday I went to the mall and saw diesel at P38 per liter ($3.53 USD/gallon) and unleaded gas at P44.5 ($4.13 USD/gallon) per liter. To me, personally, this means diesel has gone up nearly 50 US cents per gallon in less than 3 months. Good thing I rarely use a tankful per month. A few weeks ago I filled up at a station on the former US naval base at Subic where they still charge in US dollars. I was low, below a quarter tank, and the fill up came to $33 USD. I didn’t bother to do the math, but the lines at the gas station told me a lot of my Filipino neighbors considered the gas cheap …I’ve never waited in line for gas anywhere else. Both Subic and the former US base at Clark are operated by government corporations that promote shopping in dollars … you can spend dollars directly, but mostly the stores sell "branded’ items that I never spend my money on anyway … but if you are a designer maven rather than a Wal*Mart sort of boy like me, you might like the shopping there. The hotels and (especially) the casinos take dollars too, makes it easy to get rid of that spare cash many people seem to be in a hurry to get rid of on vacation.
One price I don’t recall mentioning before is propane, LPG or ’stove gas’. Most homes here use bottled gas for cooking. A standard 11 kg tank will last from weeks to months depending on the number of people you’re cooking for and how enthusiastically you cook. The current delivered price is P600 ($14.14 USD) here in my (metro Manila) area.
Here’s some samples from the stores yesterday:
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Cubed pork, Bulk pack …………………………. 500g … P 75
Lean ground pork, bulk pack ………………….. 500g … P 55
Ground beef, (about 82% lean) ………………… 500g … P 62.5
Beef spareribs, (looked pretty bony to me) ….. 500g … P 82.5
Yellow fin Tuna …(looked decent, whole) …… 500g … P 82.5
Medium size local squid, (Fresh, on ice) ……… 500g … P135
CDO brand skinless longganisa (pork sausage) .. 400g … P 66
Swift hot dogs (with cheese) pack of a dozen) ………. P120
Menuto brand frozen heat and serve chicken per pack P 67
Menuto brand frozen heat and serve adobo per pack P 57
Frozen Thai heat & serve sweet/sour shrimp (serves 2) P 77
Frozen Thai heat & serve sweet/sour fish … (serves 2) P 87
Oranges (small, 72 per kilo) ……………………. 500g … P 32.5
medium pineapple, per piece ………………………….. P 22
local carrots ……………………………………. 500g … P 20
local potatoes (quite small) …………………… 500g … P 21
Fukuda single tub washer/spinner, 6.2 kg cap. ………. P 2799
Rice cooker, 1.8 liter with steamer basket …………… P 699
Everest .65 hp window air conditioner ……………….. P 7590
Red Horse Beer …………………………………….500ml … P 24
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If you want specific prices on items, feel free to leave me a comment or email me via the contact page: http://philfaqs.com/about/contact/ and I’ll be glad to help you out if I can.
Related posts:
- What Things Cost — Department Store 1
- Costs Are Relative — Cost of a Gallon of Gas, etc.
- Always Popular, Prices — Current Mitsubishi Products
- Any Doubt On Which Way This Chart Is Going?
- Still Going Up — No End In Sight
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April 1st, 2008 at 2:07 am
Red Horse…………………………………….500ml … P ??
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Hi Laurence … at my local sari sari store:
Red Horse…………………………………….500ml … P 24
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:01 am
Thanks Philly.
I think I can now afford to move to the Phils and live on a diet of Swift Hot Dogs & Red Horse.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:04 am
The Swift Hot Dogs make Vegemite look attractive, they’ll do you a bit of no good I think,, but the Red Horse is a food staple that contains all the major food groups in one easily ingestible/digestible form. That price is ex deposit on the bottle, but if you’re a “suki” … a regular … at your local store as I am, they’ll trust you for the deposit, so never a need to have money tied up in unproductive investments.
By the way, for folks who still partake of the drier vices, a pack of Winston Lights is 20 pesos and P 186 the carton (200 cigarettes, known as a ‘ream’ here in the Philippines)
April 29th, 2008 at 7:00 am
Philly,
I’m gonna be in La Union for 3 weeks at Xmas. Maybe we could get together for some combined research on the variations in the price of Red Horse.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:07 am
You’re certainly on, Laurence, if we can make are schedules match up. Christmas seems along timne off but I find time passes very, very swiftly here, it pays to keep the calendar well in advance. Will you be flying into Clark or Manila or ???. I get confused about La Unions … are you talking about La Union province up there on the coast near Baguio?
April 29th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Philly,
Yes, La Union up North of you….near Aringay (which is on the coast).
We’ll be flying into Clark. I’d like to check out Subic area at some stage, so maybe we can meet up then. I’ll contact you directly by email nearer the date. Would you like some Vegemite ?
April 29th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Great. You can get to La Union via a more scenic route by taking the new SCTEX from Clark to Subic (abour 40 minutes or less drive, P110 toll, it opened, finally, yesterday … I have been on it several times when they had it opened for free ‘test days’ … thank you President Arroyo ;-).
As you cna tell I’m bullish on Subic as a transition point for newcomers … some place to spend a couple days, unwind and cure the jet lag.
I appreciate your kind offer on the Vegemite, but leave it in Oz … they need all they can get. It’s readily available here, Bretto’s in Angeles and also Subic one source I know of. I wanted to get some in Bretto’s one day but my wife refused to let me spend the money … it’s a food too wierd for Filipinos
May 2nd, 2008 at 4:48 am
Philly,
I’m considering bringing a VoIP enabled router with me on my next visit so that my wife’s family can ring us in Aus for free (and vice versa).
Question….how much is a basic ADSL connection in Phils ?
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:25 am
I was just getting ready to post on Internet connections and phones. I thought it was always my friend Bob who was reading my mind. Basic DSL, either wired (via land line) or wireless, as I have usually starts at P 999 a month, unmetered. This is for a nominal 256kbps service.
A great many don’t seem to realize that with the Internet, phone calls anywhere are free, or near enough to free not to matter.
August 11th, 2008 at 6:05 am
Can anyone recommend a good tailor in Manila, or a locale where there might be a few of them. I wanna get some business shirts made.
August 14th, 2008 at 2:03 am
@Laurence: I’d be interested in knowing about any decent tailors as well … I’m not interested in really high class business clothes but, like Laurence, some decent shirts would be nice. It used to be pretty easy to find tailors but I believe SM and their “Surplus Shop” has killed a lot of them off.