SUPPLY shortfall has triggered prices of onion to rise steeply in Cagayan de Oro and different parts of Northern Mindanao, City Council trade and commerce chair Councilor George Goking said Saturday.
Goking said the Department of Agriculture (DA) officials on Wednesday said the price increases were due to less supply in the market and to the non-arrival of imported onions.
According to Goking, DA-10 early this week through its Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD) is regularly conducting price monitoring of basic agricultural commodities in the major markets of Cagayan de Oro City.
“The agency’s agribusiness and marketing assistance service activated its “bantay presyo” (price watch) to monitor the prices of the commodity not just in the region but also in other parts of Mindanao,” said Goking.
Starting December 23, 2021, Goking also said the prices of red onion have started to increase, from P170-P280 per kilogram to P300-P350 per kilogram.
“Importers claimed the difficulty of getting reservations or bookings of container vans for the said commodity at the country of origin,” Goking said based on DA’s obeservation.
The DA-Bureau of Plant Industry has started issuing the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearance (SPSIC) on the last week of November with an expected arrival of imported red onions from December 15 and 21.
Meanwhile, in a statement signed by DA’s -10 regional executive director Carlene Collado, the SPSIC is a document issued by BPI prior to importation.
“This is to ensure that the products being imported meet standards to protect human, animal, or plant life or health, ensuring that the products are safe for consumers and preventing the spread of pests or diseases among animals or plants,” according to Collado.
Based on the monitoring of DA-BPI Plant Quarantine Services in Northern Mindanao, the imported red onions are expected to arrive on the first to the second week of January 2022. (Ben Balce)
