DAVAO CITY — Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, Jr. has ordered the temporary suspension on the importation of onion due to oversupply brought about by the late arrival of the order they made last December 2023.
The suspension will last until May but might be extended to July if the domestic harvest remains sufficient to meet the demand.
Laurel on Thursday met the representatives of the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. and discussed the surge domestic supply of onion due to fresh local harvest and the recent arrival of the 99 tons the agency imported in December 2023.
The agency justified that the shipment of the imported onion arrived only on January 1 and 15.
“In principle, I agree with no onion importation until July. But that is on condition that if there is a sudden supply shortfall, we will have to import earlier,” he said. “Hindi po natin alam ang mangyayari dahil may El Nino (We don’t know what would happen because of El Nino),” the agriculture chief added.
The warm temperature and the prolonged dry spell caused by El Nino could trigger more pests that affect onion production. The full impact of El Nino is expected to be felt around March and April.
The increased supply has pushed down farm gate prices of onion between P50 and P70 a kilo, and could fall further when more onions are harvested in February. In some areas in Nueva Ecija, which accounts for 97 percent of onion production in Luzon, prices have dropped to as low as P20 a kilo. Luzon produces 65 percent of local onion supply.
In December 2022, prices of onion rocketed to as high was P720 per kilo due to the scarcity of supply and high demand because if the yuletide season..
The PCAFI reported to Secretary Tiu Laurel that they expect a supply surplus since an additional 40 percent of land area were planted to onions. It added that even with the reported infestation of armyworms in some areas in Tarlac and Nueva Ecija, a supply glut is imminent as the pest is only expected to damage around 5 percent of standing crops.
Laurel and PCAFI agreed to meet every 45 days to review the supply situation and recalibrate import schedule and volume. The next meeting will be held in early March.
The Bureau of Plant Industry reported that only 366 hectares out of 10,217 hectares of farmlands planted to onion have been infested by armyworms—the caterpillar-like larvae stage of what would eventually become moths. Out of the infested areas, only crops on 6.9 hectares were totally damaged while 359.1 hectares have sustained partial damage, the BPI report said.
