FTI seeking buyer support for Mindoro onion growers

FOOD TERMINAL, INC. (FTI) said it is urging private buyers to join in procuring onions from Occidental Mindoro farmers, saying it has limited capacity to prop up the market on its own.

In a statement on Monday, the government-controlled food processing and logistics company said its own procurement activities are intended to support growers in the face of downward price pressure during the harvest.

FTI Sales and Distribution Manager Edoard B. Medalla said in the statement that the company is working with private investors to expand buying activity.

Mr. Medalla said the partners it has tapped bought around 6,000 27-kilo bags of onions at P32 to P35 per kilo, significantly higher than the prevailing farmgate price of about P22 per kilo.

The average production cost in Occidental Mindoro is estimated at P18 to P24 per kilo, indicating that current farmgate prices are below break-even levels for some farmers.

FTI estimated logistics costs of about P8 per kilo, bringing the effective cost of transporting onions to cold storage facilities in Nueva Ecija to around P40 to P43 per kilo.

Mr. Medalla said Occidental Mindoro has limited cold storage capacity and suffers from unspecified operational constraints.

“These are perishable goods, whose quality deteriorates quickly after harvest,” he said. “This is the first time we entered the onion market in Mindoro, so we have to rely on experts we have engaged in Nueva Ecija to maintain quality.”

Mr. Medalla said Occidental Mindoro’s estimated output is about 3.2 million bags.

“We cannot guarantee buying (the entire harvest), but we will try to support prices at around P35 a kilo, depending on quality and storage availability,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Nueva Ecija, FTI-backed buyers have procured about 110,000 bags at an average price of around P40 per kilo, utilizing part of the 190,000-bag cold storage capacity contracted by the agency.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. said targeted procurement and storage are critical to managing price volatility without distorting market dynamics.

“Strategic buying and storage allow us to support producers during periods of oversupply, while preserving a buffer to prevent sharp increases in retail prices,” he was quoted as saying in the statement.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said onion production in Occidental Mindoro has expanded significantly, with the planted area increasing to 8,637 hectares this season from 6,000 hectares in 2025.

The expansion is expected to yield an additional 27,000 metric tons, equivalent to about half of last year’s estimated national supply shortfall.

The DA said the increase in output, coupled with limited storage capacity, has placed downward pressure on farmgate prices and given traders greater leverage in price-setting.

Occidental Mindoro currently has eight cold storage facilities with the capacity to handle only about 16% of the projected harvest.

The DA said that even with a planned “mega” cold storage facility expected to be operational next year, total capacity is projected to cover only about a quarter of output. — Vonn Andrei E. Villamiel