Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 27) — The price of onions has reached ₱460 to ₱520 per kilogram, but this may decline due to the peak harvest in January, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Tuesday.
“Ngayon, nagkakaroon tayo ng medyo hindi normal na pagtaas ng presyo [ng agricultural good] dahil off season at ayaw natin i-tolerate yung smuggling,” DA deputy spokesman Rex Estoperez said in a Laging Handa briefing.
[Translation: Right now, we have a slightly abnormal price increase of agricultural goods because of the off season, and we do not want to tolerate smuggling.]
“Kung aasa tayo sa ating local producers, malapit na yan [pagbaba ng presyo ng agricultural goods] tulad ng sibuyas na magsisimula na yung peak season sa January,” he added.
[Translation: If we depend on local producers, we can achieve lowering the prices of agricultural goods such as onions, which will start its peak season in January.
Last November, the price of onion soared to ₱300 per kilo, from ₱280 per kilo in the previous months.
READ: DA checking red onion supply as per-kilo prices hit up to ₱300
Earlier, DA said one of the government’s solutions to the soaring onion prices is to directly buy from producers.
READ: DA to buy directly from farmers, work with traders to bring down prices of red onion
Estoperez said the suggested retail price of onions is ₱170 per kilo, but the sole determinant of price is still supply and demand.
“Mukhang mahihirapan tayo manghuli kung naka base tayo doon sa retail price, kasi kung tayo ang mag di-dikta [ng presyo], wala nang magbebenta niyan dahil tataas ang presyo ng puhunan nila,” he said.
[Translation: It seems that we will have a hard time imprisoning someone if we base it on the retail price, because if we dictate the price, no one will sell that because they will have a high investment.]
Estoperez also said they are not considering importing onions as there are enough supplies until the harvest in January.
However, there are no projections on the supply of onions as the country recently faced harsh weather.
READ: Christmas floods’ damage to agriculture pegged at ₱59.8M — NDRRMC
