MANILA, Philippines — Following weeks of soaring onion prices, an official from the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Saturday that they have received reports that the bulb’s farm gate and suggested retail prices (SRP) are going down in certain areas.
“Now we are receiving reports that it went down to P250 per kilo already, but this is something we still have to validate because it might just be in one area, but so far, from the reports that I am receiving, from the farmers themselves and even some institutional buyers, there has already been a decline [when it comes to the] farm gate price,” said DA Assistant Secretary Kristine Evangelista in a press conference.
She also said that there have been different reports of the SRP.
“With that, we are also monitoring the retail price. We have seen in December that it went up as high as P750 per kilo, but now, based on our daily monitoring of 13 markets here in Metro Manila, the prices are around P400, although every now and then we see mga P550,” said Evangelista.
However, she did not elaborate as to which areas had lowered SRP and retail prices for onion.
According to the DA’s price monitor on their website, the SRP for local red onions in major Metro Manila markets was at P350 per kilo as of January 13, but the SRP for white onions (both local and imported) had not been listed.
Evangelista also said that they expect more harvests to arrive, as the peak of onion harvest is in March.
However, officials from the DA, along with Food Terminal Inc., were recently summoned by the Office of the Ombudsman over the procurement of P140 million worth of onions from a Nueva Ecija right before harvest season started.
The Ombudsman’s antigraft body will also investigate allegations of price manipulation in the DA amid rocketing onion prices.
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