Onion stocks shoot up as harvest peaks

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s onion stocks shoot up as harvest peaks with initial supplies projected to last until the fourth quarter, according to the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI).

Nationwide red onion stocks reached nearly 40,000 metric tons (MT) at the end of March, with 39,155 MT coming from domestic production, according to the BPI.

The current red onion stocks are sufficient to last until early June, based on the estimates of the BPI, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA) tasked to oversee the country’s plant industry.

The BPI projected that some 68,214 MT of red onions will be harvested this month, bringing total expected stocks to 108,432 MT. The total expected red onion supplies would be sufficient for 185 days, based on the country’s per capita consumption of 1.87 per kilo, or until Sept. 29, according to the BPI.

Meanwhile, the country’s yellow onion stocks are estimated at 17,750 MT, which is projected to last for 121 days or until July 27. Of the current volume, about 17,482 MT were locally produced while the remaining 267.49 MT were imported stocks, based on BPI data.

The BPI expects at least 15,000 MT of yellow onions will be harvested this month, almost doubling the country’s stocks to 32,750 MT. With the projected harvest, nationwide yellow onion supplies may last for 223 days or until Nov. 7, the BPI said.

The DA earlier approved the entry of some 4,000 MT of onions - 3,000 MT of red and 1,000 MT of white - to prevent a spike in retail prices of the commodity due to a foreseen shortfall in supplies at the start of the year.

The DA did not permit any red onion importation last year due to ample stocks that kept retail prices of the commodity relatively stable throughout the year at a price range of P70 to P150 per kilo.

The country’s onion output last year grew by almost five percent year-on-year to a record-high of 264,322 MT from 252,487 MT in 2023, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

As of April 3, the retail price of locally produced red onion averaged P113 per kilo in Metro manila markets while its white onion variant averaged P95 per kilo, according to the DA price monitoring reports.

Imported white onions, meanwhile, retailed at nearly P160 per kilo on the average, based on DA data.