Onion market prices stay above P100/kg amid low farmgate value —SINAG

Market prices of onions remain above the expected range in Metro Manila, even as farmers groups have reported decline in farmgate prices amid the local harvest season, and the arrival of imports into the country.

According to the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG), prices in Metro Manila should have gone down to as low as P80 per kilogram, after hitting over P700 per kilogram in some Metro Manila markets late last year.

“‘Yung pula ngayon sa Nueva Ecija, lumalakad ng P55 to P60 (per kilogram) naman and ‘yung puti rin, more or less nasa P60 per kilo ang puting sibuyas ang farmgate price. Dapat ang presyo sa Metro Manila siguro nasa P90 or P80 (per kilogram),” SINAG Chairperson Rosendo So said in an interview on DZBB Super Radyo aired on “24 Oras Weekend” on Sunday.

(The [farmgate price of] red onions in Nueva Ecija currently ranges from P55 to P60 [per kilogram] and the white, more or less, is at P60 per kilo for the farmgate price. Prices in Metro Manila should perhaps be at P90 or P80).

The same report by Jaime Santos noted, however, that onion prices in Metro  remain above P100 per kilogram, as the red variety ranged from P120 to P140/kg, and the white at P100/kg at the Datu Tahil Market in Commonwealth, Quezon City.

At the Blumentritt Market, red onions were priced at P120/kg and the white variety at P140 a kilo. Increases were also seen in the prices of tomatoes and calamansi in both markets.

Latest data available from the Department of Agriculture’s price monitoring indicate that prices of the local red onion ranged from P90 to P150, and the local white onion from P80 to P130 per kilogram in Metro Manila markets as of last Friday, March 10.

Prices of imported onions, both the red and white varieties, ranged from P100 to P120 per kilogram.

GMA News is still trying to reach the department for comment on the matter. —LBG, GMA Integrated News