Rice, onion prices start dropping after months of remaining high – DA

A market vendor at her stall in Marikina Public Market on Tuesday, January 17, 2023. (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — The prices of onions and rice are decreasing after remaining high for months, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Friday.

Onion prices skyrocketed in 2022,  and the DA allowed more imports in 2023 to avoid another round of increases.

“The prices of onions were lowered by P20 from P100 per kilo last week — this is for the red and the white. Now they are at P80,” DA spokesperson Arnel De Mesa said in Filipino at the “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon” public briefing.

READ: Gov’t allows onion imports to stop ‘absurd increase’ in prices

READ: Still-costly rice raised Feb inflation to 3.4%

Rice prices are displayed at a rice retail store in Marikina Public Market in Marikina City on Thursday, February 15, 2024. (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Rice prices also surged in 2023, with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordering a price cap to control prices. While the rice price cap has been lifted, rice prices remained high.

“We feel the price of rice has been declining. We see it at P45 to P48 for regular and well-milled,” De Mesa said.

De Mesa said that prices should further stabilize as the price of rice has also dropped in the international market.