Personnel of the Bureau of Customs in the port of Subic inspect the container vans filled with alleged smuggled onions. (Photo courtesy of BOC-Subic Port)
MANILA, Philippines — The prices of red onions have not dropped significantly despite a plea to farmers and suppliers to sell goods that they may have hidden when production costs were lower.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has monitored only small changes in red onion prices, Rex Estoperez, deputy spokesperson of the DA, said in an interview at the Laging Handa public briefing on Tuesday.
“In some markets, there’s a slight drop in prices, but that’s very small,” Estoperez said in Filipino.
“We need to look at things on the ground. So on Thursday, we will. go to Nueva Ecija and see what’s the situation, if we need to do the off-season harvest so that it could at least help our supply,” he added.
When pressed about why farmers or suppliers were hiding red onions, Estoperez that some hide the produce during the harvest season when production costs are lower. They would then bring out the red onions during the off-season for their production.
So with rising prices due to a lower supply in the face of high demand, the hoarders could make a bigger income.
“Our monitoring teams continue cold storage facilities where there might be contraband onions or our locally produced onions,” Estoperez said.
Based on his visits to markets, like in Quezon City’s Balintawak area, Estoperez said red onions were being sold to vendors and stall owners at around P260 to P280 per kilogram — which means that selling price could still go above P300 per kilogram.
Onion prices have been skyrocketing in the fourth quarter of 2022, now being sold at over P300 per kilogram in many parts of the country.
A Philippine Daily Inquirer report last Nov. 29 said onion prices were already 67% higher compared to the same period in 2021.
Recently, there have been operations during which law enforcers seized smuggled onions and other raw food products, prompting lawmakers to call on the Bureau of Customs to file economic sabotage charges against smugglers, which are nonbailable.
On Monday, Sen. JV Ejercito said that these smuggling rings must be dismantled as these affect local onion farmers.