Some 60,000 metric tons of imported fish, including round scad (galunggong) and mackerel (bonito), are expected to flood public markets this month.
This comes after Agriculture Secretary William Dar signed the import clearances that will pave the way for the entry of the imported fish, a move that is expected to help bring down high prices that have contributed to rising inflation.
Dar said in a briefing on Monday that the Department of Agriculture (DA) expects the imported fish, likely from China and Vietnam, to arrive before the end of the month to cover the expected shortfall coinciding with the closure of the fishing season in the country’s major fishing grounds beginning in November.
Under the DA’s guidelines, the entire import volume must be sold in public markets, particularly in Metro Manila, and at about P88 a kilogram
Dar earlier said that the decision to import fish would ease “the pressure on food inflation, thus benefiting mostly our poor countrymen whose purchasing power has been reduced due to the economic slowdown and the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The country’s headline inflation accelerated to a 32-month high of 4.9 percent year-on-year in August due to expensive food, especially fish and vegetables.
Based on the DA’s latest price monitoring report, prices of common fish variants are currently at an average of P120 per kilo for tilapia, P160 per kilo for milkfish, and P240 per kilo for round scad or galunggong, deemed the “poor man’s fish.”
Three major fishing grounds are annually ordered closed for three months by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to restore valuable fish stocks. INQ