Manila, Jan. 27 -- The Department of Agriculture (DA) is examining the dynamics of food costs and practical trade realities to identify where price adjustments occur and how costs accumulate along the supply chain.

According to a news release Tuesday, a DA team conducted a market visit at the Divisoria market last Jan. 23 and spoke with retailers, resellers, wholesalers and market facilitators to gather valuable market information.

DA Assistant Secretary Genevieve Velicaria-Guevarra stressed how crucial monitoring is to identifying drivers of price adjustments and considerations for policy discussions.

"Our engagement with the traders was very open and constructive," she said.

Guevarra said the Manila Hawkers Office explained the flow...