The Filipino Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is in talks with the Department of Agriculture on ways to address the high price of red onions in markets, including how to enforce the government’s suggested retail price (SRP).
As of Jan. 2, the commodity was selling at between P450 and P600 per kilo at Muntinlupa Public Market, Kalentong Public Market in Mandaluyong, and Quinta and Central markets in Manila. The next day, based on the DA’s market monitoring, they were priced between P400 and P700 per kilo.
Newsinfo.inquirer.net reports that, on December 29, the DA issued an order setting the price of red onions in Metro Manila wet markets at P250 per kilo until the first week of January in response to its continuously rising price.
With onion prices remaining high, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has continued to deal with agricultural smuggling as it intercepted P17 million worth of yellow onions found in between sacks of used clothing valued at P2 million during a spot check of three containers from China on December 23.
President’s failed takeover of agriculture portfolio
As onions have mysteriously disappeared across the country, suspicions are being raised that a cartel is manipulating supply to drive up prices although officials and farmers deny it. Meanwhile, the president is on his fifth trip outside the country since he took office, a three-day state visit to China that began on January 3.
This all means that before president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. even completed his first six months in office, the onion crisis – again in the Department of Agriculture, which he has taken under his direct management as Agriculture Secretary – is casting a dark shadow over his administration.
Source: asiasentinel.com
