Usual suspects involved in onion supply, price manipulation – group

MANILA, Philippines — The same individuals who have been identified as involved in hoarding and manipulating the supply and prices of onions during the investigation of the House of Representatives and the Senate are the same people behind the current slump in farmgate prices of the bulbs, according to the head of a farmers’ group.

In a radio interview yesterday, Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura executive director Jayson Cainglet said that the unscrupulous traders are still involved in old activities as nobody has been charged despite having been already identified during the probes conducted by the two houses of Congress.

“There were many hearings conducted for a long time, but sadly, nobody was charged despite the fact that those involved in the manipulation of prices (have been) identified,” Cainglet added, referring to the hearings where certain individuals allegedly behind the hoarding and manipulation of the supply and prices of the bulbs were invited by the House committee on agriculture and food.

“Those involved in hoarding and manipulation in the last two years are the same group and individuals tagged by farmers who still control the supply and release of the onions,” he said.

At the same time, Cainglet noted that while the Department of Agriculture (DA), through the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), did not allow the entry of onions from other countries in 2022, which resulted in the shortage in supply, there was over-importation last year after at least 21,000 metric tons (MT) of bulbs were imported.

“We are afraid that because of over-importation, it will affect  the peak harvest in March (2024) and will further cause a slump in the farmgate price of onions,” he noted.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. earlier confirmed the delay in the arrival of imported onions despite the deadline set for the arrival of 21,000 metric tons of outsourced bulbs on Dec. 31 last year.

Laurel said that at least 99 MT of imported onions entered the country between Jan. 1 and Jan. 15.

He had already ordered a moratorium on the importation amid the decrease in the farmgate price of the bulbs.

“The farmgate price of onions is down and it is almost equivalent to the cost of production, that is why onion farmers are crying,” Cainglet said.

He added that DA and BPI officials should be made accountable for failure to do their jobs.

“Even if (officials) are not in cahoots with unscrupulous traders, they should be made accountable over the failure to control the importation and monitor the cold storage. During the hearings, they admitted that they have no inventory of local production, that’s why when the harvest comes, there is an oversupply (because of the flooding of imported onions),” Cainglet said.

Former agriculture secretary and Federation of Free Farmers national president Leonardo Montemayor has said that farmers in major onion-producing provinces of Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija and Mindoro Occidental suffer over huge drops in farmgate prices as the bulbs are now priced as low as P10 per kilo amid the late arrival of onion imports.

Montemayor added that the slump in farmgate price was also aggravated by the widespread worm infestations and reduced irrigation amid the impact of El Niño.

Based on monitoring of the DA, the retail prices of local onions remain high between P100 and P170 per kilo; local white onions between P60 and P130 per kilo; imported red onions between P80 and P120 and imported white onions between P80 and P140 per kilo.