The Department of Agriculture (DA) will ban 43 importers, following their failure to utilize their sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances (SPS-IC) to bring in some 50,000 metric tons (MT) of garlic to the country this year.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol made the pronouncement after Sen. Cynthia A. Villar, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, warned that she would file charges against Bureau of Plant Industry officials for failing to crack down on cartels accused of manipulating the prices and supply of garlic.
“We are going to ban 43 importers of onion and garlic because after a recent meet of importers with Undersecretary [Ariel] Cayanan, we learned that these importers did not import despite [issuance of] SPS during the time that they are expected to import because of the market need,” Piñol said in a news conference on July 12.
“They should import even at the times when their profit is slim and not only during when they are earning more,” he added.
Piñol said the ban will come in the form of an administrative order, which would also seek reforms in the issuance process of SPS-IC for garlic importers.
Documents given by the DA to reporters showed that from January to June this year, it issued a total of 1,420 SPS-ICs to the 43 garlic importers. The total issued SPS-ICs covered an expected total volume importation of 70,100 MT.
However, the 43 garlic importers only utilized 438 SPS-ICs, or 30.84 percent of the total issued permits, bringing in 19,252.2 MT of imports during the six-month period.
The agriculture chief admitted that a cartel exists in the market that is primarily responsible for the manipulation of the importation and retail price of garlic today.
“At the time that we needed to import, they did not import. This is a sign that there is a cartel,” Piñol said. “Yes”, he added, when asked if there are garlic cartels in the market.
However, when asked if whether employees from the DA are involved in the cartel, Piñol said, “No, and I am sure of that.” “Absolutely, there’s no involvement among any DA officials [in the cartel]. I will not tolerate any connivance between DA employees and importers,” he added.
The agriculture chief said they would placed the sole authority to issue SPS-IC for garlic under his office. Piñol added they would also review the remaining accredited garlic importers of 111, after suspending the 43 ones.
“For new importers, we will review again the list and will be sending our intels to really check on the actual existence of these importers, and not only by papers being used as front by smugglers,” Piñol said.
Piñol added the country’s per-capita garlic consumption is at 1.43 kilograms, while the annual demand is pegged at 143,000 MT. The agriculture chief said the local production, which amounts to about 7,469 MT annually, could only satisfy less than 7 percent of the total demand.
“We have to produce more. At least 50 percent of the demand can be locally produced,” he said. “We don’t have a competent volume output [against cartel]. So, how can we fight the manipulation if our production is only at 7,000 MT level?” he added.
Piñol also noted that the lack of cold storage and limited financing for garlic farmers stunted the country’s annual production of the crop.
“The cartels control these storage and lend them to other during off season, so the farmers cannot store their produce for longer of times and that complicates their situation because they can only plant or harvest once a year,” he said.
The DA is now seeking a P200- million budget next year to kick start its five-year garlic industry development road map, Piñol said. Under the road map, the government is eyeing to boost the local production by 50 percent by expanding harvestable areas and establishing cold-storage facilities.
“We have to plant at least 20,000 hectares of additional land to garlic to achieve this,” he said.