PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved several initiatives proposed by Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual to help regulate the soaring prices of onions in the country, an official of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) disclosed Monday.
This is as the DTI vowed to assist the Department of Agriculture in addressing the issue with Filipinos still struggling with high food prices.
DTI undersecretary Ruth Castelo said that while the agency has yet to make an announcement on these initiatives, one of the measures approved by the President is to limit the number of traders involved in the supply chain of imported and locally produced onions to bring down prices.
“Syempre kailangan na talagang tumulong ang DTI as our contribution to food security. Agricultural products ito pero mayroon nang initiatives proposed ni Secretary Pascual, which the President naman approved,” she said.
Castelo pointed out that the more traders are involved, the higher the markup of prices of onions will be once they reach local markets.
She also pointed out that imported onions, which have a landed cost of only P14, are being sold by as high as P350 per kilo in some National Capital Region markets.
“We have data from the BOC (Bureau of Customs) na ang landed cost ng imported onion is only P14. So makikita natin ang pinakamababa nyan sa market is P180 in only one market in the National Capital Region. Pinakamataas pa rin as of today is P300, mayroon pang P350 but in Puregold meron silang P179 to P180 na local onions,” she said.
She added, “So kita natin pababa na. Once na tuloy-tuloy na ang harvest ng local producers, maibaba na rin ‘yan. Kailangan din natin mapababa ang presyo ng imported onions naman, kasi from the landed cost as our starting point, tinitignan natin kung paano natin mababawasan ang markup na nasa presyuhan nila.” (ABS-CBN News)
