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Bella Cariaso - The Philippine Star
February 14, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Red onions’ retail price has reached P250 per kilo, with farmers’ groups criticizing the Department of Agriculture (DA) for importing bulbs when the onion harvest season has already started.
Imported onions are expected to arrive by Feb. 20. Onion harvest has begun and is expected to peak in March and April.
Based on the DA’s latest monitoring of Metro Manila markets, the retail price of red onions ranged between P120 and P250 per kilo, while white onions were valued between P120 and P140 per kilo.
Imported white onions ranged between P90 and P160 per kilo.
Last week, red onions were sold at about P200 per kilo.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. earlier approved the importation of 3,000 metric tons of red onions and 1,000 MT of white onions to prevent the continued spike in retail prices.
The DA’s decision to import onions was ill-timed amid the ongoing harvest, former agriculture secretary Leonardo Montemayor said.
Compared to the monthly onion consumption of 17,000 MT, the DA said the approved onion imports were minimal.
In 2022, the retail price of onions reached as high as P720 per kilo amid supply shortage and hoarding.
Harvest has begun in major onion-producing municipalities, such as Bayambang in Pangasinan, San Jose in Occidental Mindoro and Bongabon and Laur in Nueva Ecija, Montemayor noted.
Onion farmers have described the decision to import onions as a “double whammy” as plantations in Nueva Ecija – the country’s onion capital – are attacked by armyworms.
Victor Danipog, an onion farmer from Nueva Ecija, said farmers have yet to recover from losses incurred during tropical cyclones in November last year and the recent armyworm attack.
Pork max SRP
Meanwhile, the maximum suggested retail price (SRP) for pork should only be P380 per kilo, according to farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag).
“The farmgate price of pork only ranged between P240 and P250 per kilo. The P380 per kilo maximum SRP should be implemented. If the retail price reaches P400, that’s too high,” Sinag executive director Jayson Cainglet yesterday told dzBB.
Tiu Laurel is planning on imposing a pork max SRP amid rising prices.
Under the Price Act, Cainglet said a probe is mandated if retail prices increase by over 10 percent compared to the previous month.
“The secretary is set to meet with stakeholders next week to discuss the pork max SRP,” Cainglet said.
