No onion crisis; stocks enough until next year

MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos won’t  be shredding tears over onion prices as the commodity is expected to remain affordable throughout the year since the country’s stocks of the vegetable are projected to last until early next year.

The country’s red onion and shallot stocks as of June 21 reached 161,973.73 metric tons (MT), which could last for 276 days based on a nationwide daily consumption rate of 585.52 MT, according to the latest report by the government’s allium monitoring team.

The government report obtained by The STAR showed that the current fresh red onion and shallot supplies would be sufficient for at least nine months or until March 25, 2025.

The present inventory of red onions are all from local production since the government halted the importation of the vegetable at the start of the year due to a projected bumper harvest.

The temporary import ban on onions has been extended by Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. until the end of this month.

Meanwhile, the country’s current supply of fresh yellow onions of about 11,569.07 MT would last for two months and 18 days or until Sept. 8, based on the monitoring report.

Overall, the combined red and yellow onions as well as shallots stocks nationwide would last for 237 days or until Feb. 13 next year.

Given the current inventory for red onions, the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI) is proposing that the import ban on the commodity be extended further by the government.

PCAFI president Danilo Fausto said the present red onion supplies would last until the next harvest of the country, which usually begins in February and peaks in March.

“This is an unprecedented (level) of inventory. This is proof that if you give farmers a good price then they would produce more,” he said.

Fausto added that there is no reason anymore for retail prices of red onions to skyrocket to between P500 and P700 per kilogram like what happened in early last year.

If there would be any importations this year, Fausto said, it should be for yellow onions since the current inventory of the vegetable would be all consumed by early September.

Yellow onions are usually the ones used by the food service industry for their dishes.

The retail prices of locally-produced red onions in Metro Manila markets range from P80 per kilogram to P150 per kilogram while yellow onions range between P60 and P120 per kilogram, based on Department of Agriculture’s price monitoring reports.

The STAR broke the story in May that the country’s onion production in the first half is en route to an unprecedented level driven by expansion in planted areas by farmers, encouraged by high prices last year.

The Department of Agriculture earlier projected that onion harvest in the second quarter could reach at least 170,000 MT, bringing total first half production to over 370,000 MT.

The Philippines harvests bulk of its onion output during the first semester, with minimal production during the second half of the year due to climatic conditions.

The total local onion production in the first half usually serves as the basis for the government in determining the amount of imports that would be allowed in a given year.

Filipinos grappled with unprecedented onion prices that hit as high as P700 per kilogram between the latter part of 2022 and early months of last year.

The rise in onion prices was caused by insufficient supply after the government opted to disallow the entry of imports to protect local farmers.