CALASIAO, Pangasinan – The price of onions has dropped to P300 from P500 per kilo here.
Restaurants serving the popular delicacy “pigar pigar” were elated over the chance to buy onions at this price for the first time in several months during market day here on Thursday, Jan. 12.
"Noong Lunes nasa P500 pa ang bentahan namin kaya naman tuwang-tuwa ang mga may-ari ng resto na nagluluto ng pigar pigar (We were selling onions for P500 per kilo on Monday and restaurants serving ‘pigar pigar’ were happy when the price dropped to P300 per kilo)," a vendor at the public market here said.
Pigar pigar is a delicacy in this province, especially in Dagupan City. The dish is thinly sliced, quickly deep fried carabeef served with lots of onions and sometimes with cabbage.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) said the price of onions is expected to drop once the more than 21,000 metric tons of imports arrive in the country before January ends.
In Bayambang, farmers declared that lower onion prices translate into higher sales.
"Inaasahan namin na tuluy tuloy na ang pagbaba ng presyo para makabawi din kami ng benta, nasa P200 ang small size, P300 ang medium (We expect that sales will increase as onion prices further go down. We sell small onions for P200 per kilo and P300 for medium," a businesswoman said.