30,000 MT imported galunggong in Philippines this month

MANILA, Philippines — Thirty thousand metric tons (MT) of galunggong and other fish are expected to arrive in the third week of October or first week of November as the retail price of round scad has increased by P60 per kilo.

Based on monitoring of the Department of Agriculture (DA), the retail price of galunggong, once considered a “poor man’s fish,” is now between P240 and P360 per kilo. A month ago, its retail price ranged between P200 and P300 per kilo.

In an interview over dzBB, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources spokesman Nasser Briguera defended the decision of the National Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council to increase the volume of imported fish to 30,000 MT from the original 25,000 MT, saying the council took into consideration the damage brought by typhoons in the fishery sector.

“The council is multi-sectoral. The volume is based on the actual consumption during the previous year. We also don’t want the imported fish to compete with local production,” he said.

Briguera added that the government will start implementing the closed fishing season in Palawan which will start Nov. 1 while the fishing ban in Zamboanga peninsula will begin Nov. 15.

He said that the three-month fishing ban will allow the fish stocks to repopulate.

Briguera said that the galunggong should be cheaper compared to locally produced fish.

“That’s (cheaper imported galunggong) what we want, we want the (imported) fish to be affordable for our consumers,” he said.

He said the imported fish will be sourced from Vietnam and China.

Briguera blamed inflation for making galunggong no longer the “poor man’s fish.”