Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 13) — The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Thursday suspended 43 companies from importing garlic, following the discovery of a cartel that caused supply shortage which led to high market prices.
Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol signed an order suspending the companies from securing Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary import clearances (SPC-IC) for garlic, as it was revealed that they secured permits to import 70,100 metric tons of garlic between January and July 2017, but brought in only 19,250 metric tons.
According to the administrative order, “these companies failed to utilize (import) their approved SPS-IC, thus affecting domestic supply of garlic that resulted in unreasonable market price increase to the detriment of Filipino consumers.”
This follows a Senate hearing on Monday where Committee on Food and Agriculture chair Cynthia Villar slammed Bureau of Plant Industry director Vivencio Mamaril on why garlic price in local market reached ₱200 per kilo, when the price of imported garlic is only ₱17.
Piñol said that the price of garlic eventually stabilized to ₱120 per kilo as the DA warned garlic importers that they would face sanctions if they did not utilize their import permits to lower the market prices.
He added the cartel is “taking advantage of the lack of cold storage facilities to discourage farmers from planting garlic so they could control importation and manipulate domestic prices.”
In a statement by the DA Agri-Fisheries Information Division, Filipinos use 130,000 metric tons of garlic annually, while local producers can only generate as much as 7,246 metric tons, exposing the market to price manipulation by traders who have formed a cartel.
The Department is now seeking to plant garlic in an additional 30,000 hectares of farm to help meet the growing demand.
Piñol said the solution could lead to a garlic production of 3.5 metric tons per hectare, resulting in an increase of 120,000 metric tons from local producers.
The statement added the Agriculture Credit Policy Council has been accrediting farmers in Nueva Ecija to qualify for a ₱25,000 Production Loan Easy Access program to sway them into garlic farming.
“To dismantle the garlic import cartel, the DA will review the list of all importers to determine their authenticity and require their owners to appear personally when seeking the extension or applying for new import clearances,” the statement said.
