Amid the increasing price of onions in the market, the Bureau of Plant and Industry (BPI) confirmed it will import white onions within the year.

During the "Laging Handa" public briefing, Jose Diego Roxas, BPI spokesman said the supply of white or yellow onions will only last until July 14 to 17 while red onions will last until the end of November.

"Based on the historical data and the usual production months of onions, we expect a shortage of red onions starting December, so it will be for one month while for the white onions we expect shortage of supply for five months because we are in the lean months, it means the harvest for the month is low and from July until December, there will be no or minimal harvest expected," he said.

"For white onions, we expect the supply to last until mid of July, while for red onions we expect that its supply will last until the month of November," he added.

Onion prices soared last December to around P670 a kilo, which is higher than the minimum wage of P570 for workers in the National Capital Region.

Roxas said: " If there are any changes in the projection it will be not too far from the logic that if there is shortage there will be importation."

"The importation will be until the lean months but if we already expect the harvest that is the time that it will be controlled so that the income of our local farmers will not be affected," he said.

During the House hearing of the committee on agriculture and food on Wednesday, Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) executive director Jayson Cainglet said the government is discussing importing around 8,000 metric tons of onions.

Roxas said prices for the month of May red onions cost around 150 - 200 pesos per kilo while the price of white onions range from 160 - 200 pesos per kilo.

Roxas said the Department of Agriculture (DA) and BPI also recommend the imposition of suggested retail price (SRP) and coordination with the Local Price Coordinating Council (LPCC) of the local government units to control the increasing price of onions in the country. Robina Asido/DMS