October 10, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The retail price of ginger has almost tripled to as much as P300 per kilo this year, but government officials are expecting the prices to fall within the month as much-needed imports start to arrive in the country.
The Philippines has turned to imports as domestic supply has been insufficient to meet the growing demand for the commodity, driven by higher purchases by industrial users.
Agriculture assistant secretary and spokesman Arnel de Mesa said at least 4,200 metric tons of the 13,725 MT of the expected ginger imports this year have arrived in the country already.
Most of the foreign stocks, De Mesa pointed out, came from China.
Last Sept. 30, the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) approved the importation of 50 MT of ginger each from Vietnam and Indonesia to expand the country’s foreign sources of the commodity.
According to De Mesa, the country did not import much ginger in the past two years, citing that last year only 143 MT was imported.
“But this year our demand expanded, especially from industrial users, particularly those who manufacture herbal tea like turmeric tea,” he said.
The situation was worsened by the loss in domestic production caused by the series of typhoons that hit key-producing provinces exacerbated by the lackluster output in the early months of the year due to El Niño, the DA official said.
“The price of ginger should be less than P100 per kilo. If it is more than that, then it is expensive,” De Mesa said, adding that about 450 MT of gingers are expected to arrive this month alone.
The price of ginger in Metro Manila ranges from a low of P140 to a high of P300 per kilo.
However, the prevailing price is about P300 per kilo, almost triple than last year’s P110 per kilo, based on DA price monitoring reports.
The price of ginger is now even higher than the prevailing price of a kilo of whole chicken, which ranges from P160 to P230 per kilo, DA data showed.
The inflation rate of spices, culinary herbs and seeds, which include ginger, in the National Capital Region quickened to 16.5 percent in September compared to 7.8 percent in the same month of last year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. disclosed earlier this week that the government was forced to import ginger to temper the rising prices of the commodity in the domestic market. – Bella Cariaso
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