Lechon manok
Consumers continue to reel from the spiraling cost of garlic as buying two whole orders of lechon manok (roast chicken) is cheaper than buying a kilo of the strong-smelling, pungent-tasting bulb that is used as flavoring in cookery.
Supermarket prices have breached the P350 mark per kilo while those in public markets are hovering at P280. An upscale grocery is selling a kilo of garlic for P389.
A regular-sized whole roast chicken averages P170.
Before the spike in prices which Malacañang has attributed to the hoarding of stocks as well as the congestion at the port of Manila where most of the country’s imported commodities are unloaded, a kilo of garlic ranges from P68 to P100, shopkeepers in Cebu City’s Carbon market as well as supermarkets told Cebu Daily News.
Vendors at the Carbon public market, Opon and Ramos said they noticed the price change in April when wholesalers started selling a sack of garlic for P1,700. A sack approximately contains seven kilos.
RDC Trading, which supplies garlic to vendors in Carbon, is selling a sack for P1,800.
“Before, we sell garlic at P400 per sack. With the limited supply, the price has increased to P1,800,” an employee of the trading firm who refused to identify himself said.
Laida Amoguez, a vendor in Opon, said she used to sell a kilo for P80.
“When our supplier increased the price, we started passing it on for P280 per kilo wholesale and P300 retail,” she said in Cebuano.
A sari-sari (neighborhood) store in Mandaue City is selling a bulb of garlic for P30.
Gemma, the store’s owner, said they buy their stock from Carbon market. Despite the exorbitant price, their customers still look for the spice.
“Mopalit na lang mi kay mangita man sad ang mga tawo diri sa amo (We still buy garlic because our customers look for it),” she said.
Gerry Avila, chief of the Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division of the regional office of the Department of Agriculture, said the dearth in supply is happening globally.
“Based on information we got from our central office, the supply of imported garlic is limited thus the prices go high. DA, however, is now encouraging everyone to use locally-grown garlic.
They’re smaller in size but actually more flavorful,” he said.
Avila said the DA has forecast supply to stabilize when garlic producers in Luzon would be harvesting and unloading their produce in the market.
“For now we are asking everyone to just be more creative in their cooking. I’m sure there are many ways to still achieve the same quality like marinating or crushing the garlic to get its flavor,” he said.
On Thursday, Malacañang warned those hoarding the popular spice that they would be arrested and charged in court should they refuse to unload their supplies to the market.
Quoting Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said the “parties concerned are urged to unload their stocks to avoid arrest and prosecution.”
Coloma did not name the hoarders who have been “under surveillance” by the government in the wake of the unusual price spike.
Coloma said the spike in garlic prices was “probably affected by a combination of smuggling” and congestion at the ports of Manila, whose local government has implemented a truck ban.
Imported goods, including garlic, entering through the Port of Manila and the Manila International Container Port are sitting at the piers for lack of trucks to take them out.
Earlier, Coloma said the authorities were “conducting monitoring and surveillance to find out if the shortage is artificial or if manipulative practices are being committed.”
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Customs seized around 100,000 kilograms of garlic smuggled from Hong Kong at the Port of Batangas.
The garlic, packed in ten-kilogram bags purportedly from Taiwan, arrived in two separate shipments on June 1 and June 12 on board two vessels.
The garlic shipments were misdeclared as “cocoa beans to be used as raw material for chocolate.”
Since it was misdeclared, the shipment had no phytosanitary clearance as mandated by the Department of Agriculture for imported agricultural products.
A Warrant of Seizure and Detention was issued against the two shipments for violations of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines.
The shipment was consigned to a certain Good Earth Merchandising, based in Brgy. Carmen, Cagayan de Oro City; and was brokered by an Antonio Enriquez, with address at Tuktukan, Guiguinto, Bulacan. However, the consignee was said to be nonexistent.
The garlic shipments will now undergo forfeiture proceedings in favor of the government. /with reports from Maeine Mosquite and Inquirer
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