DA OKs importation of more than 20MTs of onions

The Department of Agriculture (DA) announced Tuesday that it has approved the importation of 21,060 metric tons of fresh yellow and red onions.

The move is meant to “address the supply gap prior to peak harvest in 2023 and to stabilize the continuous increase in price of fresh onions in the market,” said the DA in a memo signed by Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban.

The DA’s order indicated that the importation must arrive on or before January 27, to protect local farmers, considering the approaching peak harvest season from mid-February to May.

Furthermore, the imported onions will only be delivered to selected entry points including the “Port of Manila-South Harbor, Port of Subic, Port of Cebu, Port of Davao, and Port of Cagayan de Oro for strict monitoring purposes.”

Retail prices of red onions have recently skyrocketed to as high as P700 per kilo, more than three times the price of chicken and nearly 40% more expensive than beef.

Senator Cynthia Villar has put the blame of high prices of onions in the country on cartels.

Villar, who chairs the Senate committee on agriculture and food, said there appears to be no other reason why onions are expensive and in short supply, except for traders buying the crop from local farmers at low prices, while at the same time importing and hoarding the vegetable to control inventory and push prices up.

“They (cartels) have complete control over the supply so they create artificial demand to increase prices… that’s what we should solve so that this does not happen again,” Villar told reporters after presiding over a hearing of her committee.

She said that the committee uncovered the onion cartels in 2013 but authorities have not been able to dismantle them.

Meanwhile, netizens dismissed the DA’s move as too little, too late, with consumers having borne the brunt of high onion prices for weeks leading up to the recent holidays. They also expressed concern over the importation’s possible impact on the earnings of local onion farmers, as onion harvesting season approaches in February.