Onion price cap set this Monday

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) will implement a P150 per kilo suggested retail price (SRP) for red onions and P140 for white onions starting Monday to address the spike in prices of the bulbs.

Farmers’ group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (Sinag) executive director Jayson Cainglet said in an interview with The STAR that the
decision was reached after DA officials, led by Assistant Secretary and spokesman Kristine Evangelista, met with stakeholders yesterday.

“Based on the meeting, the buying price of red onions in cold storage is P110 to P115 per kilo while white onions is P100 (per kilo) so the SRP for red onions should not exceed P150 (per kilo) and white (onions) should not exceed P140 per kilo,” Cainglet revealed.

He said that during consultation, the operators of cold storage, brokers, traders, retailers and farmers all agreed that there is enough supply of onions as the warehouses are still full.

“We believe that we have enough inventory as many farmers planted onions but the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) is yet to report on the final figures. We need to bring down the retail price by next week to remove the pressure to import as importation will be the last resource,” Cainglet added.

He noted that it would be up to the BPI to process the possible importation of 8,000 metric tons of white onions as agreed during a hearing in Congress.

Cainglet said they also found during the meeting that cold storage operators released limited volumes of the bulbs or sell to wholesalers at higher prices.

He pointed out that even if the cold storage operators sell onions at P100 per kilo, they still would have enough profits as traders bought these from farmers at only P60 per kilo.?He said the announcement on the implementation of SRP would be posted in the markets.

Based on yesterday’s DA monitoring, onions were sold as high as P200/kilo at Guadalupe Market in Makati City; Marikina Public Market and Mega Q-Mart in Quezon City.

Its retail prices ranged between P160 to P190 per kilo at New Las Piñas Market; San Andres Market, Quinta Market, Pritil Market, all in Manila; Pamilihang Lungsod ng Muntinlupa; Pasay City Market; Commonwealth Market and Muñoz Market, both in Quezon City.

Meanwhile, Sinag president Rosendo So alleged yesterday that some Bureau of Customs (BOC) officials are in cahoots with smugglers as illegally sourced agricultural products reached a total of at least P30 billion.

In a radio interview, he claimed that the BOC has not filed any economic sabotage case against agricultural product smugglers and that it has only filed cases of smuggling with value less than P1 million.

“Many were able to evade the law as concerned officials of the Bureau of Customs are not attending court hearings and do not submit necessary documents to the Department of Justice,” So said. “We can see that there is really connivance inside the Customs.”

According to So, out of the total P30 billion in smuggled farm products, illegally sourced rice topped the list, followed by frozen meat products, onions and other vegetables.

“We do not know if these smuggled farm products are safe. If these contain contaminants, it will have harmful effects and will be dangerous to one’s health,” he added.

He recounted that stakeholders have moved to empower farmers’ groups to file cases against smugglers, instead of the BOC, during a hearing of the Senate committee on agriculture and food chaired by Sen. Cynthia Villar.