THE authorities are imposing a P250 per kilo suggested retail price on red onions starting Dec. 30 or Dec. 31—even though they already sell for more than P700 a kilo in some markets—or more than four times the current SRP of P170.
In a radio interview, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Kristine Evangelista said the increase in demand for the commodity and high farm gate costs are the reasons behind the skyrocketing prices for onions.
She said it is possible prices could go down because farm gate prices can go down too.It was unclear how the government can enforce the new SRP.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who is concurrently Agriculture secretary, said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will continue to monitor the market and will work to bring smuggled onions to the consumers to stabilize prices and supply.
“We will stick firmly to the recommended price. The DTI will continue to monitor. We’re trying to find ways to bring the smuggled onions that have been caught into the market to reduce the supply problem,” President Marcos said.
“But there are some legal issues in doing that immediately. So we’re still working on that. But we will keep the prices down by monitoring what’s happening in our markets,” the President said.
Some lawmakers have called for an inquiry on the soaring prices of local onions amid the recent flooding of imported varieties and the reported rampant smuggling from other countries.
Department of Agriculture (DA) officials attributed the spike in the prices of white onions to a supply shortfall after many onion farmers have shifted to planting the red onion variety.
The President’s sister, Senator Imee Marcos, on Thursday called on the DA to expedite the harvest and direct purchase of locally grown onions for delivery to Metro Manila, using the P140 million fund from the 2021 national budget which was realigned for the DA’s Food Mobilization Program this year.
In a statement, Marcos said this measure would increase the supply of onions that can be sold at P170 per kilo in Kadiwa outlets and rolling stores before the New Year, which is a better alternative than raising the suggested retail price (SRP) of the commodity.
“Raising the SRP for onions from P170 to P250 per kilo only invites more ridicule, with market prices now more than four times the present SRP,” Marcos said, referring to DA’s plan on raising the SRP of onions to control runaway prices that have reached P720 per kilo.
She also noted that onion harvest will continue until February in Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan, Batanes, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, Tarlac and Oriental Mindoro.
The chairperson of the Senate committee on cooperatives earlier Wednesday initiated the direct purchase of around 300,000 kilos of onions from Nueva Ecija farmers’ cooperatives whose grants she had sponsored from the DA’s Kadiwa program.
Marcos also contacted Metro Manila mayors to add Kadiwa outlets in wet markets and to map out the routes for Kadiwa rolling stores.
“As of this morning, the mayors of Las Piñas, Mandaluyong, Quezon City, Manila, Makati, and Valenzuela have confirmed their support. I am confident that more onions can be sold at Kadiwa prices on Dec. 30 and 31,” Marcos said.