PRICE of bangus and tilapia slightly increased, according to the monitoring of the Department of Agriculture’s Bantay Presyo.
Bangus is now at P150 to 250 per kilo, up from P150 to 220 from two weeks ago. Meanwhile, tilapia is now at P110 to 170 from P100 to 160 two weeks ago.
Asis Perez of Tugon Kabuhayan, a fishery group, said this might be because of the full moon, which affects volume of catch.
“Minsan mga apat na araw ‘yan, lumiliwanag ang buwan. During that period of time, mababa talaga ang huli ng isda natin na alat,” he said.
“‘Yun naman ang pagkakataon ng aquaculture na naibebenta ang produkto nila, wala sila kalaban sa merkado. So naturally, prices will adjust,” Perez said.
Perez added that based on their monitoring, the supply of fish is still stable as the effect of El Niño is yet to be felt in the fishery sector.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), meanwhile, said supply of fish is sufficient, even if the country is still at the closed fishing season.
Major fishing grounds in Palawan and Zamboanga are closed to commercial fishing since late 2023 to allow certain fishes to repopulate. These are set to reopen this February.
“Ito siguro dahilan sa pagtaas ng aquaculture products, kasi nagshi-shift doon sa aquaculture commodities like tilapia and bangus,” said Nazer Briguera, spokesperson of BFAR.
He added: “Kapag nagbukas naman na ang major fishing grounds natin, we expect na tataas ang supply natin sa mga pamilihan, bababa ang presyo.”
Asked if lowering the price of bangus to P50 to 70/kilo is possible once Laguna Lake opens more spaces to aquaculture, BFAR said it is hopeful about it. (ABS-CBN News)
