Cynthia Villar sees cartel behind high price of onions in markets

Senator Cynthia Villar expressed belief Monday that a cartel is behind the high prices of onions in the local markets.

In an ambush interview, Villar said an investigation in 2013 showed that there is an onion cartel which has "complete control" over the supply in the country.

"Naimbestigahan na namin 'yan since 2013  talagang may onion cartel. 'Yung namimili sa farmers, binabarat nila ang farmers, sila rin ang nag-iimport so they have the complete control sa supply kaya nagke-create minsan sila ng artificial demand para ma-iincrease nila ang price kasi nasa kanila lahat ng supply. So 'yun ang dapat nating i-solve na hindi mangyayari 'yun," the chairperson of the Senate agriculture, food, and agrarian reform said.

(We have already investigated this in 2013 and we found out that there really is an onion cartel. This cartel buys the produce from local farmers at a low price and at the same time imports onions so they have the complete control over the supply. That's why sometimes they create artificial demand so they can increase the prices. That's what we need to solve right now.)

Asked if she thinks the cartel is behind the current high prices of onions in the market, Villar said: "Oo. Wala namang reason for that. Wala naman kasing mahal na ganon na onion (Yes. I don't see any other reason for the price of onions to be that high)."

As a solution, the lawmaker said the value chain must be fixed where the local farmers can directly sell their produce to the consumers and get rid of the traders.

Over the weekend, Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG)  urged the government to address the gap between the price of onions sold by local farmers and those at which they are bought by consumers.

According to the farmers’ group, the farmgate price of onions peaks at P250 to P300 a kilogram, and retail prices should not exceed P400 per kilogram at any time.

Red onions, however, have hit up to P720 per kilogram in some markets.

Last Saturday, the Department of Agriculture recommended the importation of 22,000 metric tons of onions to end the continuous rise in prices in public markets.—AOL, GMA Integrated News