If low millgate sugar prices remain unchecked, losses in revenues to the sugar industry could exceed P20 billion by June 2026, Rafael Coscolluela, former Sugar Regulatory Administrator, said on Friday, Jan. 23.
Coscolluela was one of a battery of speakers from planters, millers, and labor groups who spoke at a public consultation on the decline in sugar prices led by Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform chairperson Sen. Francis Pangilinan and House Committee on Agriculture and Food chairperson Rep. Mark Enverga at Nature’s Village Resort in Talisay City, Negros Occidental.
Over the last 13 weeks of 2025 from October to December, the drop in sugar and molasses prices cost the sugar industry foregone revenues of P5.53 billion from sugar sales and P1.73 billion from molasses sales, or a total of P7.28 billion, Coscolluela said.
“Money inflows contracted by P560 million per week, mostly in Negros island. If unchecked, foregone revenues of the sugar industry could exceed P20 billion by June 2026,” he said.
In September last year, the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations warned of a brewing “perfect storm,” citing oversupply of imported refined sugar, large inventories of raw sugar, unchecked molasses importation, and unregulated entry of sugar substitutes, on top of rising labor costs, lack of manpower, pest infestations, and natural calamities, he said.
All indications pointed to, among others, a crash in millgate prices, Coscolluela said, and that “perfect storm came in October 2025, and no one has been spared.”
Coscolluela also pointed out that even when sugar millgate prices were dropping sharply, retail consumers did not benefit from corresponding declines.
Pangilinan and Enverga said the public consultation is not for show, and that they would take action to address the plight of the sugar industry.
“We are here with one purpose: to listen, to be candid about the crisis we face, and to agree on practical and sustainable solutions that protect farmers, workers, communities, and the industry,” Pangilinan said.
Pangilinan noted that the sugar industry is a ₱70 to ₱76 billion economy that directly employs about 700,000 workers and supports an estimated 5 to 6 million Filipinos.
“The Senate and the House can exercise oversight over the Department of Agriculture and there are a number of recommendations here that we should be able to bring to the DA and SRA and request action,” Pangilinan said.
Enverga said data gathered at the public consultation will be used in their upcoming official inquiry in aid of legislation.
“Most definitely there will be action coming from Congress,” Enverga said.
There should be a consultative assembly on sugar importation as recommended by Coscolluela, he also said.
“We will review the recommendations as to the procedure by which the importation is decided upon,” Pangilinan said, noting that clearly there is a concern on over-importation. “I agree immediate action is needed,” he said.
If legislation is necessary, we are more than willing to do that, Pangilinan added.
DIRECT SALE OF SUGAR
Bacolod Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez proposed a review of the policy where all sugar produced is sold to traders, who are actually middlemen who take a big chunk of the profits.
He suggested the sale of the sugar directly to the consumers, noting that 65 percent of the buyers of the country’s sugar are industrial users composed of 50 companies.
CASH ASSISTANCE
Pangilinan said he will make representations with the DA for direct cash assistance to small sugar planters who suffered from the drop in prices.
PRESIDENT’S HELP
The public consultation was hosted by Rep. Javier Miguel Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) who filed a resolution in the House seeking an inquiry on the plight of the sugar industry.
Benitez said the primary goal of the inquiry is to find a lifeline for the industry through balanced production and price stabilization.
“We will submit oversight functions that the executive department needs to look into and needed legislation will also be passed,” Benitez said.
“We are looking for a data-driven, transparent importation policy from the executive department,” he said, adding that they may also ask the president to look into it to hasten action. Better prices need to be sustained in the best interest of farmers, he said.
STAKEHOLDERS’ DEMANDS
CONFED president Aurelio Valderrama, National Federation of Sugarcane Planters president Enrique Rojas, National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines president Roland de la Cruz, and other stakeholders all called for a halt to over-importation of sugar and molasses to prevent the drop in millgate prices.
Coscolluela also stressed the need for effective government intervention for the short term, a sugar buying program aimed to reduce oversupply without resorting to import replenishment as an “incentive,” and a “no importation” policy until the end of December 2026, unless a defined trigger point is reached earlier.
If and when importation is called for, proper consultations must be held with industry stakeholders, and importations should prioritize raw sugar over refined to support our own local refineries, he said.
He also called for a Sugarcane Industry Stakeholder Consultative Assembly, a sugar and molasses importation policy, an amendment of the Sugarcane Industry Development Act (SIDA), and an expanded SRA mandate to include sugar substitutes within its regulatory authority.
PRICES RISING
Manuel Lamata, United Federation of Sugarcane Planters president, thanked the lawmakers for providing the industry stakeholders the venue to explain the causes behind the low millgate prices.
UNIFED believes that the low millgate prices issue was addressed when government issued Sugar Order No. 2 to export 100,000 metric tons of raw sugar to the U.S. market, he said.
This move was intended to decongest the local market during the peak season. As a result, prices immediately rose from a low of ₱2,100/lkg to ₱2,450 and continue to rise, he said.
Lamata said UNIFED is grateful to the president, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona and Sugar Board Member Sanson. “Thank you for looking after our sugar industry”, he said.
However, Lamata also noted that a more alarming concern is the unabated and uncontrolled influx of imported sucralose and other sweeteners that must be addressed.
OFFICIALS PRESENT
Other officials present were Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and representatives Jeffrey Ferrer (4th District), Emilio Yulo (5th District), Mercedes Alvarez (6th District), and Manuel Frederick Ko (Abang Lingkod).*