DA to set P115/kg ‘cold storage price’ for red onions; P100/kg for white onions

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said Sunday that it will impose a “cold storage price” or wholesale price of P115 per kilo for red onions and P100 per kilo for white onions.

Interviewed on Super Radyo dzBB, DA Assistant Secretary Kristine Evangelista said that the cold storage price was discussed in a recent stakeholders meeting in a bid to lower the cost of the commodity in markets to P140 to P150 per kilo.

“Kung saan nila kukunin 'yung kanilang mga sibuyas, ay meron tayong itinakdang presyo... Parang cold storage price po ito kasi ang sabi nga natin, ang mga sibuyas ng ating mga magsasaka ay naibenta na sa mga trader. Ang mga trader na ito ay naglagay sa cold storage facility,” she said.

(We have set a price on where the retailers get their onion supply. This is like a cold storage price as farmers sell their harvest to traders and the traders are the ones who put the harvest in cold storage facilities.)

“Ang cold storage price ay P115 para sa red onions at P100 para sa white onions. 'Yan ang presyo para makarating sa ating mga retailers ng tama para maibenta nila at P150 at P140,” she added.

(The cold storage price is P115 for red onions and P100 for white onions. That's the wholesale price for the retailers so they could sell the onions at P150 and P140 in markets.)

Evangelista said the traders themselves have agreed to post the wholesale price of onions in cold storage facilities.

Based on DA’s latest price monitoring, local red and white onions cost P160 to P200 per kilo in select markets in Metro Manila.

There is no data available as to the price of imported medium-sized red and white onions as DA noted that they are not currently sold in markets. 

The agency announced on Friday that it is looking at setting a suggested retail price (SRP) for onions by Monday, May 22.

Evangelista said the DA is targeting to implement and enforce the SRP by Tuesday.

This, as DA also prepares to issue an order to import white onions in May as it rushes to prevent another price shock similar to what the country experienced in 2022. —KG, GMA Integrated News