Only 1,900 tons of imported onions arrived in the Philippines last week

Only 1,900 tons of the permitted 5,000 tons of imported onions have arrived as the Department of Agriculture's (DA) deadline for imports passed on Friday. “So far, about 1,900 tons of imported onions have arrived, 1,000 tons are on the market, and 900 tons are yet to be inspected,” said the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) official in charge, Jose Diego Roxas, in an interview on Friday. The BPI expects to release the 900 tons of onions still to be inspected Friday or next week, Roxas added. The ministry will ban onion imports after January 27 "and we will monitor that closely," he concluded. The government allowed a limited number of onions in an attempt to curb rapidly rising prices. As of Friday, retail prices of imported white onions were between P250 and P300 per kilo and of imported red onions between P200 and P250 per kilo. President Marcos in a tight spot When Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was elected President of the Philippines in mid-2022, he appointed himself Secretary of ...