The Department of Agriculture said Wednesday it may cancel the permits of garlic importers who will not ship the crop into the country until next week.
The DA made the statement after the retail prices of garlic increased P50 per kilo due to the tight supply of the crop in the market. The average retail price of imported garlic is pegged at P200 a kilo while the local crop is sold at P250 a kilo.
“Our secretary gave the message that if importers will not import until next week, we will cancel their permits and then we will allow others to import,” said Agriculture Undersecretary Ariel Cayanan.
Cayanan said the government as of last week issue 1,000 phytosanitary-import clearances to importers. Only over 270 clearances were used.
“That is the data as of last week but progressively they are importing. I think by next week, there will be 20 containers arriving. Actually some of those (SPS) will expire within 20 days but we don’t want it to be an instrument to be capitalized,” said Cayanan.
