PH mulls more importation of galunggong, mackerel, other fish

The Department of Agriculture (DA) is planning to authorize the importation of an additional 8,000 metric tons of small pelagic fish, targeted for delivery in early December. 

DA Assistant Secretary and spokesperson Arnel de Mesa told reporters on Tuesday that the planned importation of fish —which include round scad or galunggong, mackerel, moon fish, and bonito— was meant to ensure there will be no sudden spikes in fish prices amid the series of storms that recently hit the country and the ongoing closed fishing season in some areas to conserve fish populations.

“We just want to ensure that there will be no problem later on,” de Mesa said at a press briefing on Tuesday in Quezon City,

“Because, first, there’s a closed fishing season. Second, there was a series of consecutive storms… we are just anticipating problems might arise,” he added.

The DA official said that the decision on the planned fish importation would be announced in the coming week.

He said that the target arrival of the fish shipments would be within the “first two weeks of December.”

The planned importation of 8,000 MT of galunggong, mackerel, moon fish, and bonito is on top of the 30,000 MT of imported fish approved by the DA last October.

“It has to arrive before the end of the year,” de Mesa said.

Data from the DA’s price monitoring showed that the price of local galunggong in Metro Manila markets saw a slight uptick from P220 to 340 per kilo on October 18 (prior to the series of consecutive tropical storms) to a range of P240 to P320 per kilo as of November 18.

Meanwhile, imported galunggong is currently priced at P240 per kilo from the previous month’s range of P210 to P300 a kilo.

—VAL, GMA Integrated News