Bureau of Plant Industry: Onion prices rose amid entry of smuggled onions

Onion prices in the country surged amid the entry of smuggled and unsafe onions, the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) said on Wednesday.

BPI Director Glenn Panganiban, also the Program Director of the National Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture Program (NUPAP), gave this response when quizzed by House appropriations panel vice chairperson Stella Quimbo of Marikina as to how the country went from an oversupply of onions and low prices in 2019 to onions selling for as much as P720 a kilo in 2022. 

“Ang feedback po ng farmers, taon-taon po nangyayari ito na kapag kaunti ang supply, bubuhos iyong imported, smuggled. It [increase in onion prices] really happened at the peak nung pag-confiscate namin ng smuggled onions. We confiscated onions with food safety risk,” Panganiban told the House agriculture and food panel.

(The feedback from farmers is that when supply is thin, imported and smuggled onions pours in. But it happened at the peak of that time where we were confiscating smuggled onions with food safety risk.)

“Iyon po ang majority ng pumasok, [at] merong red onions,” Panganiban added.

(Majority of the ones that came in are of this kind, including red onions.)

Quimbo responded that such an event should have prompted the agriculture department to adjust its importation policy.

Quimbo said that only 30,000 metric tons of onions were imported in 2021, a year before prices skyrocketed, even though the Philippine government issued an import permit for 200,000 metric tons of onion in the same year.

Likewise, Quimbo said that the demand of onions for 2022 was for 363,937 metric tons against 338,354 metric tons of supply, meaning there was a modest shortage.

“Prices are dictated by supply and demand. Bakit po ganun na biglang nagtaas ang presyo, dumoble at tumriple ganung 7% lang ang shortage? Are you saying nawala lahat ng production capacity natin in three years?” Quimbo stressed.

(Why did prices suddenly double, triple when the shortage was only 7%? Are you saying our entire production capacity has eroded in three years?)

“Of course, there [was] damage due to typhoons, but that is not enough for us to have excess supply in 2019 to extreme lack of supply now,” Quimbo added. 

Panganiban said the government, monitoring of the production situation, found out that farmers lacked cold storage facilities for their produce.

Panganiban added that price control is beyond the BPI’s mandate.

“With regards to pricing, the BPI is mostly in sanitary and phytosanitary concerns, as well as high value crop production. Iyong pricing...di po kami iyong sa price control [Price control is outside our remit],” Panganiban said.

Quimbo then asked if cartels could explain the rise in prices.

“Hind ko po alam kung may cartel, pero kung aside from production and importation, meron pang nagko-control, hindi ko po alam kung ‘yun na nga po ang tawag roon,” Panganiban said.

(I don’t know if there’s a cartel, but if there is something controlling supply aside from production and importation, I would not know if we would identify it as a cartel.)

Panganiban also said that they have monitored warehouses containing onions, a supply that suddenly disappears once authorities are there to inspect.

Quimbo urged the bureau to file a case of agricultural sabotage against unscrupulous individuals before the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) as soon as possible.

“I am informing you right now that the government agency which has jurisdiction over the cartel is the PCC. You have to coordinate with them. They have sufficient power to enforce the law against any cartel in the Philippine economy,” Quimbo said.

“Iyong hindi niyo pagsangguni sa PCC, problema na po iyan. Kung seryoso natin tutugunan ito para mapatol na ang cartel behavior, make sure you coordinate with the PCC,” Quimbo added.

(The fact that you are not filing the case before PCC is a problem. If we really want to cut the cartel operations, make sure you coordinate with the PCC.)

Panganiban vowed to heed Quimbo’s suggestion. — BM, GMA Integrated News