Red onions price reaches P750 per kilo in Cebu City public market

The price of red onions has reached P750 per kilo in a public market in Cebu City.

At the Carbon Public Market in Cebu City, the bigger red onions fetched a price of P750 kilo but the smaller ones were being sold at around P600 per kilo, according to a report on GMA Integrated News' Unang Balita on Monday.

Consumers said they just bought what they needed, a few pieces only, especially for the dishes they planned for the New Year.

Meanwhile, at the Blumentritt Market in Manila, some consumers resorted to buying sliced red onions which were cheaper, according to a report by James Agustin on Unang Balita.

One consumer bought P20 worth of sliced red onions, just enough to flavor the dish she planned to cook for the day.

Whole red onions are being sold at P640 per kilo at the Blumentritt Market on Monday, far from the P250 per kilo suggested retail price (SRP) given by the government. The SRP is in effect this first week of January.

Vendors said they could not comply with the P250/kilo SRP because they bought the red onions at P440 per kilo from wholesalers in Balintawak. There were other expenses to factor in as well, they said.

The vendors are hoping the prices of onions would go down since they are also suffering losses.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said Monday it is targeting to have onion prices dip to P170 per kilo to as low as P80/kg this year.

Agriculture Assistant Secretary and spokesperson Kristine Evangelista said they are expecting a better supply of local onion harvest this year considering that they did not import last year, and that they put up more cold storage facilities in strategic areas to extend the shelf life of the commodity.

However, she said that the DA also wants onion farmers to come up with price points that will make their farmgate prices stable throughout the year. —KG, GMA Integrated News