Price of onions shoots down

BREBES, Central Java: Local onion farmers are being hard hit this harvest by the declining price of onions following the sale of imported onion shoots as a regular spice.

A slight price decrease is to be expected during harvesting season, a farmer from the Klampok Khudori village told The Jakarta Post. This year's price, however, has gone as low as Rp 500 (25 U.S. cents) per kilogram because the farmers had to adapt to the circulating imported onion shoots from Thailand and Vietnam.

Suwondo, a spice merchant, said that imported onion shoots are meant for planting. "But since local bulbs have already flooded the market, the imported ones have been sold as regular spice," he told the Post. (wah/14)