‘Onions should be no more than P140 a kilo’

MANILA, Philippines — Farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) said the retail price of onions is overpriced at P200 per kilo, as traders only bought the bulbs from farmers at P60 per kilo during the harvest season.

In a radio interview yesterday, SINAG president Rosendo So said that the retail price of onions should only range between P130 and P140 per kilo.

“The stocks are in the hands of the traders, but we all know that they only procured the onions at P60 per kilo at farmgate price,” So said.

He said that the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) should act to prevent the upward trend of prices. “(The retail price) should be closely monitored to prevent unnecessary spikes,” he added.

At the same time, he reiterated the need to import white onions, saying the stocks at cold storage facilities are expected to last for only three months.

“The harvest in Pangasinan and Nueva Ecija ended. What is left is in areas in Mindoro,” So said.

He said imported white onions should start to arrive in July to prevent another shortage, after the retail prices skyrocketed to P720 per kilo in December 2022 due to scarcity in supply.

“We need to be prepared as the stocks of white onions in the cold storage facilities will already be depleted, so by June, we should be starting to prepare and allow the arrival of onions in July,” he said.

He contradicted the statement of BPI spokesperson Jose Diego Roxas that the stocks of white onions will last until September 2023 and November 2023 for red onions.

“We should not wait until September. Based on our projection, by July there will be no stocks of white onions,” he said.

So said that the DA and BPI should finally conduct an inventory of onion stocks in various cold storage facilities.

“There is a need to have an inventory to determine the volume of onions that are actually in the hands of traders and once and for all identify the traders who are in possession of the bulbs,” he said.

So said that the DA can still utilize the unused import permits when President Marcos approved the importation of at least 22,000 metric tons of onions in February 2023.

“The DA still has remaining allocation after only 3,500 MT (metric tons) of onions arrived from the 22,000 MT approved by the President. Anytime, the BPI can issue a permit (to import), It only needs to finalize the date of importation,” So said.

Earlier, SINAG executive director Jayson Cainglet said that the importation of at least 7,500 MT of white onions should be done to allay fears of shortage in supply, which he said was used by traders and importers last year to increase the retail prices of the bulbs.

Cainglet added that at least 7,500 MT of white onions should be outsourced to prevent a similar situation last year where institutional buyers like restaurants, fast food restaurants and hotels shifted to red onions because of shortage in the supply of white bulbs.

Based on monitoring of the DA, more markets sold the bulbs at P200 per kilo, including New Las Piñas City Public Market, Guadalupe Public Market in Makati City and Marikina Public Market.

The retail prices of onions ranged between P160 and P190 per kilo in San Andres Market, Quinta Market, Pritil Market, all in Manila; Pamilihang Lungsod ng Muntinlupa; Pasay City Market; Pasig City Mega market; Commonwealth Market, Muñoz Market and Mega Q-mart, all in Quezon City and Malabon Central Market.