The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Wednesday announced allowing the importation of as much as 16,000 metric tons (MT) of yellow and white onions this year.
The DA said the shipments will come in phased batches each week till the end of the year to prevent wild swings in the price of the commodity as supply normalizes in January when domestic producers begin to harvest.
“Our stocks (of white and yellow onions) are already depleted although our stock of red onions is still good until March next year. This importation of white onion is of limited quantity just to stabilize prices,” said Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel on Wednesday at the sidelines of a pork convention in Pasay City.
The DA said the purchase of white and yellow onions is needed as demand for the commodity is seen rising with the onset of the Christmas holidays.
The DA also bared a possible extension of the must-arrive date of the imports as dependent on the availability of stock and price in the market.
The agency earlier said around 87 percent of farms planted to onion raise the red variety and only 13 percent cultivate white onions. The rest of the farms are planted to shallots.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show the production of 252,487.47 metric tons of onion bulbs in 2023, up 4.7 percent from only 241,033.06 MT in 2022.
DA monitoring of public markets in the National Capital Region the previous Tuesday showed the price of red onions selling from P70 to P150 per kilo and white onions from P80 to P150 per kilo.
