
Reports from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) reveal that more imported sugar than local sugar are being withdrawn by traders, resulting to the prevailing low millgate prices of P2,300 – P2,500 per 50-kilo bag.
This was revealed in SRA’s Sugar Supply and Demand Situation reports when they were reviewed by officers of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations Inc. during their recent meeting in Manila, a press statement form CONFED said Tuesday, Dec. 11.
As of November 12 SRA’s report showed that, out of the total refined sugar withdrawal of 209,408 metric tons, only 32 percent (66,608 mt) were locally refined sugar while the whooping 68 percent (142,800 mt) was comprised of imported refined sugar, CONFED said.
Another report as of October 29, disclosed that, out of 173,257mt of refined sugar withdrawn, only 31 percent (54,209 mt) were locally refined while the huge majority of 69 percent (119,050 mt) were imported refined sugar. This seems to indicate that priority is given to imported sugar over locally refined sugar, as suggested by the trend in the two SRA reports reviewed by CONFED officers, the statement said.
“Compared to locally refined sugar, imported refined sugar is cheaper, and so it will deliver more profits for importers and traders. But how about the sugar farmers? We’re the ones who give employment to millions of Filipinos. The Department of Agriculture can greatly help by switching priorities, giving more importance to locally refined sugar,” said CONFED President Aurelio J. Valderrama Jr.
Approximately 40 percent of raw sugar are withdrawn for refining, so if locally refined sugar is not given priority, the local sugar farmers who produce the raw sugar stand to suffer. As the supply of raw sugar piles up, prices will drop, as they did to P2,500 and then to P2,300 in the past few weeks, the CONFED statement said.
“Ironically, while millgate prices drop, local retail prices remain high. Clearly, neither sugar farmers nor consumers are benefitting from this situation,” it added.
On September 26 the Sugar Board of the SRA passed Board Resolution 2023-159 “to lift the deadline set for importers under Sugar Order No.7, series of 2022-2023 to reclassify, distribute, and dispose imported refined sugar until further notice.”
SO7 authorized the importation of 150,000 mt of refined sugar to enter the Philippines by September 15. Importers were mandated to distribute their allocations by October 15, CONFED said.
The intention of SO7 was to provide a buffer stock, but many feared the 30-day window between September 15 and October 15 was too late since milling was scheduled to begin on October 1, it said.
The fact that Board Resolution 2023-159 was issued before the October 15 deadline for importers to distribute their imported sugar appears to confirm the farmers’ fear that over importation would cause the decline in sugar prices, CONFED said.
Sugar farmers want to know now, how much of the 150,000 mt was actually distributed and how much was left undistributed as a result of the Board Resolution. Current situation suggests that the Board Resolution failed to fix the problem of declining sugar prices, CONFED added.
“At this point all remedies are welcome. We have also written to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., asking for fuel subsidy, because production inputs continue to rise even as sugar prices go down,” Valderrama added.
In mid-October, the president reduced the trigger point of fuel subsidies for the transport sector from three months to one month. When world fuel prices reach a certain precarious level and stays there for three months, the Philippine government would release fuel subsidy. The President improved that by shortening the trigger point to just one month, the CONFED statement said.
On October 26, Valderrama wrote a letter of appeal to the president to extend the same assistance to the agriculture sector. In the case of sugar, up to 90 percent of farmers are agrarian reform beneficiaries, the CONFED statement said.*