The proposed importation of 22,000 metric tons (MT) of onions would discourage farmers from planting and even depress farmgate prices, a local industry group said on Sunday.
The Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magsisibuyas ng Nueva Ecija (Kasamne) said local onion farmers would be “on the losing end” if the recommendation to import onions until the first week of February pushes through.
Kasamne Vice President Eric Alvarez said onion harvest, particularly in Nueva Ecija has already started and it is expected to peak by next month.
Alvarez said the farmgate prices of onion are now on a downward trend, falling to around P300 per kilogram on Sunday from P350 per kg.
“Prices were higher in previous days because the rains prevented us from harvesting our crop. Supply did not reach the market. Right now, however, harvest is ongoing,” he told reporters in an interview.
“It is possible that the farm-gate price of onion will be on a downtrend. And if we import and the shipments arrive in February, then it would have a direct impact on our main harvest.”
Harvesting of the main onion crop usually takes place during the first semester of the year.
Import plan
Agriculture Assistant Secretary Rex Estoperez said there is a proposal to import 22,000 MT of onion to boost domestic supply and pull down retail prices that have skyrocketed to more than P700 per kilogram last month.
Estoperez said the proposal was made during the recent executive committee meeting of the agriculture department. He said half of the proposed import volume would go to Luzon while Visayas and Mindanao would each get 25 percent.
Also, he said white onions would account for at least 10 percent of the volume that will be imported for Luzon.
Estoperez said the proposed import program would only run until the first week of February to ensure that shipments would not arrive during the peak harvest season.
He also said the implementing guidelines of the import proposal are still being ironed out by the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), including a mechanism that would ensure that foreign supply would be sold below P250 per kilogram. The BPI, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA), oversees the importation of onions.
The proposal, Estoperez said, would still require the approval of Senior Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo F. Panganiban. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., who is concurrently the Agriculture Secretary, will have the final say on the matter.
The proposal to import onions was recommended by agriculture officials after the imposition of the suggested retail price of P250 per kg failed to pull down onion prices.
Estoperez said the DA may arrive at a final decision on the proposal to import onions within the week.
The DA’s latest price monitong report showed that prices of onions in Metro Manila wet markets remained elevated. The price of red onions ranges from P280 per kg to P650 per kg while white onions are sold for P400 per kg to P600 per kg.
‘Huge price gaps’
The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) called out the government for delaying its decision to import white onions.
Sinag said it had asked the DA to import white onions as early as October last year to prevent traders from using the “shortage card” to “jack up” the retail prices of the commodity.
The group said any importation program at this point would only be detrimental to local onion growers.
Sinag also claimed that the proposed import program is “deliberate” on the part of traders and importers to coincide with the peak harvest season.
“Instead of contemplating on new onion imports, that will only result in depressed farmgate prices of onions, with the onset of the harvest season, the [Department of Agriculture] should concentrate on the huge gap between farmgate prices and retail prices of onions,” it said.
“Another round of onion imports will not guarantee reduced retail prices if the DA will remain useless in addressing the gap between the farmgate and retail prices.”
The DA had projected in August 2022 that the Philippines would suffer a shortage of key ingredients used for making Filipino dishes, such as white onion and garlic as total supplies, even with imports, are insufficient to meet overall demand for the commodities.
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