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Hon. Cesar A.V. Purisima
Secretary, Department of Finance
DOF-BSP Complex
Roxas Blvd., Manila

Attention: Commissioner Alberto Lina
Bureau of Customs

Dear Secretary Purisima:

This concerns the imposition of the price-based Special Safeguards (SSG) Duty on the importation of onions under Tariff Code 0703.10 00, pursuant to Customs Memorandum Order No. 37-2004.

In a letter dated 20 January 2005, we requested the temporary lifting of the imposition of SSG duty on imported onions due to the shortage of supply at the time.

As you may be aware, the months of February to May is the harvest season of onions and it is the view of the industry, which is in turn supported by data from the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics and the Bureau of Plant Industry that there is enough supply of onion to last at least for the first half of the present year.

In light of this, we are requesting the reinstatement of the SSG duty imposition on imported onions under HS Code 0703.10 00 effective immediately.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

(SGD.) ARTHUR C. YAP
Secretary

Adopted: 14 March 2005

Annex A

Volume, Value and Unit Price of Onion Imports
  2001 to 2004

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Year	Volume (in kg.)	CIF Value (PhP)	Unit Price (PhP)
2002	6,751,575	51,879,989	7.68
2003	11,584,228	91,939,692	7.94
2004	6,367,345	53,669.241	8.43
Average	8,234,383	65,829,641	8.02
Year 2004
January	194,000	1,583,493	8.16
February	- -	- -	- -
March	- -	- -	- -
April	- -	- -	- -
May	54,000	723,755	13.40
June	501,640	4,069,535	8.11
July	1,890,800	18,182,389	9.62
August	959,520	8,484,733	8.84
September	776,760	6,880,833	8.86
October	581,350	3,605,399	6.20
November	1,409,275	10,139,104	7.19

Source: National Statistics Office