MANILA, Philippines — During the holiday season in 2022, the country saw an unprecedented onion crisis, with retail prices of the bulbs hitting an eye-watering P700 a kilo.
The crisis was blamed partly on wrong importation policy that was not in sync with the local harvest.
This holiday season, the government is not taking any chances, and is flooding the country with imports. And local onion farmers are crying.
Onion farmers in Nueva Ecija have been forced to dump their produce as imported bulbs flood the markets, making them unable to sell their stocks.
In a radio interview yesterday, Lot Manibog, a farmer from Nueva Ecija, said the dumping of onions will persist as the bulbs are rotting in cold storage facilities because traders patronize imported white onions, even though the wholesale price of local and imported onions is the same.
Manibog said the Department of Agriculture (DA) allowed the early importation of white onions despite the availability of the local produce in cold storage facilities.
For his part, Agriculture Assistant Secretary and spokesman Arnel de Mesa maintained that Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. only approved a minimal volume of imported white onions to ensure enough supply during the holidays.
“We did not approve the importation for red onions. If there are (imported red onions), these are smuggled but we are trying to intercept them,” he said.
Tiu Laurel has approved the importation of 16,000 metric tons of white onions.
Based on monitoring of the DA, the retail price of local red onions ranged between P75 and P150 per kilo and local white onions, P150 per kilo; imported white onions, between P60 and P160 per kilo.
P43-P45/kilo rice
Meanwhile, the DA yesterday said that P43 to P45 per kilo of regular and well-milled rice will be available starting next week after leaders of market associations in Metro Manila made the commitment following a meeting with officials of the agency.
At a press conference, De Mesa added that during the meeting, representatives from at least 30 markets in the National Capital Region agreed to increase their retail prices between P3 and P5 per kilo.
“Basically, we agreed that their profit for regular and well-milled rice will be between P3 and P5 (per kilo). The other types of rice are not included in the agreement,” De Mesa said.
Tiu Laurel has ordered a meeting with presidents of large markets in Metro Manila to determine why rice prices remain stubbornly high in many places, despite the implementation of Executive Order No. 62, which lowered the tariff on imported grains to 15 percent from 35 percent.
DA Undersecretary for operations Roger Navarro led the meeting with the market associations.
“We are monitoring 30 markets in the National Capital Region every day from Monday to Saturday,” De Mesa said.
He said rice retailers will be linked to traders to ensure that they can comply with the P43 to P45 per kilo of regular and well-milled rice.
He said that after Metro Manila, the DA will also meet with retailers in other parts of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.
At the same time, De Mesa admitted that the retail price of local rice is still lower compared to imported rice as local regular rice is sold for as low as P40 per kilo compared to the imported regular rice of P45 per kilo.
Based on monitoring of the DA, the retail price of local well-milled rice is sold as low as P44 per kilo compared to the imported well-milled rice of P45 per kilo.
At a recent meeting with rice importers from Bulacan, traders told Navarro and chief of staff Undersecretary Alvin Balagbag that they have lowered prices to around P38 per kilo, attributing the high retail prices to retailers.
EO 62, which took effect on July 7, aims to bring down rice prices. Tiu Laurel cited the need to consult with market leaders to uncover the reasons behind the still elevated rice prices.
Meanwhile, De Mesa gave assurance that the government targets to expand the availability of P29 per kilo of rice in Kadiwa centers by next year as beneficiaries of the program went early to the National Irrigation Administration in Quezon City to avail themselves of the cheap staple.