The Philippines may import a lower volume of onions than earlier planned, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.
This developed as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said the Philippines’ onion importation plan is “expected to fail” and the terms set under the program are likely to favor Chinese suppliers.
The DA said only 5,000 metric tons (MT) out of the 21,060 MT planned shipments eyed to arrive before January 27 applied for sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances (SPSICs) as of the January 13 deadline.
Glenn Panganiban, Bureau of Plant Industry officer-in-charge director, said at a Senate hearing yesterday of the 5,000 MT that applied for permits, only half is expected to be imported .
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier approved the importation of 3,960 MT of fresh yellow onion and 17,100 MT of fresh red onion.
Panganiban said any shipment that arrives after the January 27 deadline will be seized by the Bureau of Customs.
Meanwhile, USDA in a report dated Jan. 12, 2023, said “extreme conditions” attached to the importation plan, “guarantee that it will not be filled and likely will not come close to filling.”
The USDA added “the government’s conditions greatly favor Chinese supplies despite China not being importers’ favored supplier.”
“Given the time restriction, proximity and shipping lanes, the measure gives strong favor to Chinese exporters over to those in Europe and India. A 40-percent tariff is assessed on all imports, regardless of origin,” the report added.
The agency also said other conditions in the import program – allowing only importers to use the ports of Manila-South Harbor, Subic, Cebu, Davao and Cagayan de Oro and restricting storage in the accredited cold storage facilities indicated in their respective approved SPSICs – “will further impede the ability of imported onions to access and flow through the local supply chain.”
Meanwhile, the President in an interview yesterday said the limited supply led prices of onion to go up to as high P700 a kilo.
Marcos ordered a calibrated importation of onions to safeguard the farmers during the harvest season which starts around February.
DA Undersecretary Mercedita Sombilla, in the Senate hearing, said historically when local harvest of onions peak, retail prices per kilogram (kg) drop to as much as P120 to P150.
The DA said the imported onions must be substantially lower than the suggested retail price set by the government of P250 per kg.
The DA said the farmgate price of onions has dropped to P250 per kilo from around P450 to P460 in December.
The retail prices of onions, based on DA’s daily monitoring of 13 markets in Metro Manila, stood at P400 to P550.
