Philippines only expected to get just a quarter of planned onion imports

MANILA, Jan 16 (Bloomberg): The Philippines’ agriculture department has issued permits to import 5,775 tons of onions for delivery this month or just over a quarter of its planned purchase volume which may not be enough to boost domestic supply to tame high prices.

That volume represents around 27% of the 21,060 tons of onions the Southeast Asian nation was earlier planning to buy overseas. The US Department of Agriculture said Thursday the country is unlikely to fill the entire volume due to the tight requirements including delivery before the end of this month.