The SINAG farmers’ group said the prices of vegetables may start to ease in the next few weeks due to the harvest season of onions this January as well as the expected decline in fertilizer prices.
SINAG chairman Rosendo So said fertilizer prices have begun to ease from the elevated prices in 2022, ABS-CBN News reported.
Inflation in December accelerated to 8.1 percent mainly due to higher food prices driven by vegetables, including onions. Vegetable inflation rose 32.4 percent for the month, which is the highest since February 1999, government data showed.
So, quoted by the ABS-CBN report, also said local fertilizer prices, heavily influenced by international commodity prices, spiked last year to P2,500 from P800 per 50-kilo bag and fuel used in pumps to irrigate farmlands could have also contributed to the higher vegetable prices.
So said prices of fertilizers eased this January “but are still higher than prices in 2021.
He added that “we are seeing na baka ang mga magtanim nitong gulay nitong January, kung gumamit sila png fertilizer], it will be lower. The cost of production.”
So further said by February, or March, vegetable prices could be lower.
Reports said inflation quickens further to 8.1 percent in December on back of higher vegetable prices.
So further said the price of red onions rose up to P700 per kilo while white onion reached up to P800 per kilo last month, but prices are also expected to continue to drop this month, he said.
He added that once harvesting starts in January, prices might go down.
Based on the price monitoring of the Department of Agriculture, local red onion is priced between P280 and P680 per kilo in NCR markets. Local white onions are at P400 to P600 as of Jan. 4.