Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. on Monday said the temporary ban on onion imports would be extended to next month, adding that he saw no reason to import the high-value crop at this time.

“We’re monitoring everything closely, day-to-day. At the moment, there is no need to import onions, so I guess we would be extending it (ban) on a monthly basis,” he said.

He, however, expressed concern that unscrupulous traders might tighten the release of the crops’ stocks to create an artificial shortage.

“Just a warning, when they tighten that, we will import to stabilize prices,” he said.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said earlier the domestic onion inventory could meet local demand until February next year.

As of 21 June, there were almost 162,000 metric tons of red onions, over 11,500 MT of yellow onions, and 60 MT of shallots, according to DA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa.

De Mesa said there is no glut as all harvested onions are currently being kept in cold storage.

It may be recalled that onion prices skyrocketed to as high as P900 per kilo in December 2022 due to suspected hoarding to create an artificial shortage.

The arrival of imported onions early this year, as well as an increase in domestic production, prompted the DA to implement a temporary import ban in June, which was supposed to end in May, but was extended to July.