Total production of red and yellow onion in the Philippines continues its steep decline in the third quarter of the year, registering a 57.5-percent decrease in output to 6 metric tons (MT) from 14 MT recorded in the same period last year, according to the latest report of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Red and yellow onion production in the second quarter of 2015 also slumped by 58.1 percent to 46,872 MT, as compared to 111,949 MT posted in 2014.
Among all the onion-producing regions in the country, only Central Visayas and the Soccsksargen region planted the crop during the July-to-September period. The bulk of the production was contributed by Soccsksargen.
The PSA attributed the decline during the period to the hesitance of the farmers in Central Visayas to plant in anticipation of the dry spell and the decrease in area harvested in Soccsksargen due to the insufficient rain in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, the PSA report also showed that multiplier onion production for the third quarter slightly declined to 32.11 MT, from 32.25 MT in 2015.
The Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) earlier said it is allowing the importation of 6,050 MT of red onion from China and India to fill the deficit in the local supply brought by Typhoon Lando in November.
Agriculture Assistant Secretary and BPI Officer in Charge Paz J. Benavidez II said the bureau has issued 121 import permits to traders and companies. Each import permit will allow traders to bring in 50 MT of red onion, which should arrive in the Philippines on or before January 31 next year.
Benavidez said the BPI will still continue to process more applications for import permits until the local supply is sufficient to meet the country’s requirement of 485 MT per day, or 45,000 MT
