The Department of Agriculture (DA) said Tuesday the price of red onions is allegedly rising because of hoarders.

"The price of onions is not going down even though we are encouraging red onion hoarders to release them. Based on the information about the harvest, there is no price movement," DA deputy spokesperson Rex Estoperez told the "Laging Handa" briefing.

"We really need to see what's happening on the ground. So by Thursday, we will go to Nueva Ecija to check the situation, to see if there are any red onions that need to be harvested during the off-season so that it could augment the onion supply," he added.

Estoperez said he was able to confirm there were hoarders when he visited Balintawak market.

“The onions were bought at a low price, at P15 to P20, even though the production cost is P35... I went to Balintawak. The cost of a sack of onions per kilo is P227. So if you add the incidental expenses, the price will go as high as P260 or P280,” he said.

Estoperez said the smuggled white onions placed under the phytosanitary analysis were found to be positive for E.Coli so they were declared “not fit for human consumption” and will not be sold at Kadiwa stores. Jaspearl Tan/DMS