Fish prices surging as successive typhoons curb supply
Retail prices of round scad (galunggong) are expected to remain high as recent storms depleted fish supply in the Philippines, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said only a small amount of round scad has come to market following typhoons that affected the country and its fishing grounds.
Tiu Laurel said the weather disturbances have also delayed the arrival of fish imports.
“We should not expect (galunggong) prices to go down because there is no supply worldwide. I did my own research, it’s really true,” the agriculture chief said at an interview on Wednesday.
“It’s a supply and demand thing. If local supply is really limited, prices will definitely increase. I’m not saying it will go down. I’m just being honest about it,” he said.
Given the tight supply situation, Tiu Laurel urged Filipino consumers to purchase cheaper food items, noting that mackerel prices should decrease to P220 to P230 per kilogram.
“If it’s that expensive, you might as well switch to chicken,” he told reporters.
Based on the DA’s price monitoring, local round scad was sold from P300 to P400 per kg as of Dec. 1, higher than P240 to P340 per kg around the same day a year ago.
Imported round scad is a bit cheaper at P280 to P350 per kg, but still much higher compared with last year’s P240 to P260 per kg.
Indian mackerel (alumahan) retailed between P300 and P450 per kilo, also higher than P260 to P380 per kg.
Furthermore, milkfish (bangus) was priced between P160 and P300 per kg, compared with P135 to P250 per kg.
Tilapia ranged from P130 to P170 per kg, compared with P110 to P180 a kilo previously.
Meanwhile, Tiu Laurel said the DA would raffle off unused fish import allocation to pull down retail prices.
“What we will do this Friday is we will take away the portion of unutilized (import allocation) to raffle it off to those with higher utilization so that more fish can enter immediately to help ease the (price) pressure,” he said.
In September, the DA authorized the importation of 55,000 metric tons of frozen fish for wet markets during the “ber” months to ensure a more stable supply.
Tiu Laurel noted that only 30 percent of the import volume has reached the archipelago.
Recent calamities due to successive typhoons have further slashed local fish production.
The DA has repeatedly extended the period for issuing the import clearance for importing frozen small pelagic fish, this time until Jan. 30, 2026, to give importers more time to boost supply.
