Oversupply pulls down onion farmgate price

MANILA, Philippines — An official of the Department of Agriculture (DA) has confirmed the decrease in the farmgate price of onion in Oriental Mindoro due to oversupply.

Arnel de Mesa, spokesman for the DA, said the farmgate price of onion in Oriental Mindoro dropped to P25 to P33 per kilo from P45 to P55 last week.

De Mesa attributed the oversupply to the increase in the number of production areas allotted for the bulbs.

“The farmgate price and production (of onions) were good last year. Areas planted with onions have increased by 40 percent, not only in Mindoro but also in Central and Northern Luzon,” De Mesa said.

The DA and its regional offices are helping onion farmers market their produce.

“Our regional field office (in Oriental Mindoro) is helping connect farmers to our Food Terminal Inc., where they can bring and store their produce for the meantime,” De Mesa said.

The DA recently inaugurated a cold storage facility in Bulalacao town.

De Mesa said the amount of damage caused by El Niño in the province’s agriculture sector has reached P770 million.

Based on the DA monitoring, the retail price of local red and white onions ranged between P60 and P120 per kilo while imported white onions were priced at P80 and P100 per kilo.