PNA file photo
MANILA – The prevailing retail price of onions continued to drop on Friday as the imports arrive on schedule.
According to the Department of Agriculture (DA) Bantay Presyo (price watch), the lowest price was recorded for local white onions which are sold at PHP170 per kilogram, with its highest cost at only PHP300/kg.
Imported white onions are set at PHP250/kg to PHP260/kg, higher than the local white onions.
As the DA projected, arrivals of imported volume have helped in the market price drop.
The prevailing price range of local red onions, meanwhile, is PHP240/kg to PHP350/kg, higher than the price range of imported red onions which is set at PHP200/kg to PHP250/kg.
However, the Bureau of Plant Industry confirmed that imported red onions appear bigger than locally produced red onions despite being sold at a lower cost.
In a teleradio interview, DA Assistant Secretary Kristine Evangelista said they will work on bringing back the prices to peak harvest levels.
“Ang pinakamababa po na presyo ay umabot sa mga PHP67 or a little less than PHP70 per kilo. So, ’yun po ang tinitingnan natin ngayon kung paano natin maibabalik ang ganung presyo. Although ito po ay presyo sa panahon na talagang peak of their harvest (The lowest price was as low as PHP67/kg or less than PHP70/kg. So, that's what we're looking into, how to bring back that level of price. Although this price was during the peak of harvest),” she said.
To achieve this, the DA said discussions with other layers in the entire value chain are yet to be made. (PNA)
