Negros Occidental officials and sugar leaders are calling for a unified position from stakeholders and for government action against the plummeting sugar prices.
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, in a statement on Friday, Dec. 12, said, “Given the current crisis in the sugar industry, marked by low prices and limited buying, I, together with the mayors of Negros Occidental, am calling on all sugar groups, federations, and industry leaders in Negros Occidental to come together and agree on a unified position.”
As the country’s sugar capital and as a province whose economy is significantly anchored on the strength and stability of the sugar industry, Lacson said it is vital “that we present a single and cohesive stand before elevating our concerns to the national government.”
“Together let us act with firm determination to safeguard the livelihood of our farmers, workers, and communities,” Lacson said.
CONFED
The Confederation of Sugar Producers Association (CONFED), in an open letter to all stakeholders, called on the government, through the Department of Agriculture, Sugar Regulatory Administration, and political leaders, to work in concert with the industry on urgent as well as long-term solutions.
The open letter, signed by CONFED president Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama Jr., said, “The first week’s millgate prices plunged to their lowest levels in four crop years.”
“This has been followed by increasingly lower prices and weak demand for both sugar and molasses over the last six weeks, with some mills unable to secure acceptable bids for newly-milled sugar,” CONFED said.
“The foregone revenue to sugar producers is staggering: for the six weeks up to Nov. 9, revenues from sugar and molasses sales were P3.89 billion lower compared to the same period last year,” it added.
“Based on this, we warned in our Dec. 3 CONFED President’s Report that ‘if the problem is not solved…our potential foregone revenues could run to P23.3 Billion’,” CONFED said
“Latest data from SRA shows that as of Nov. 23, or eight weeks into the milling, foregone revenue has already reached P4.21 billion, most of it in Negros,” it said.
“While there is disagreement with SRA as to the nature and cause/s of the problem, including the factors that have contributed to this crisis, the industry is clearly suffering from disastrous price drops and weak demand for our domestic sugar and molasses. This is a direct threat to the very survival of the Philippine sugarcane industry,” CONFED said.
UNIFED
Manuel Lamata, United Sugar Producers Federation president, in a letter to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., sought his intervention “as small farmers are already hard-pressed to make ends meet as prices of sugar have now breached the break-even point of survival”.
“We hope your office will be able to do something to help address this issue and we will always be thankful for whatever assistance you can extend, especially to our small farmers that comprise more than 80 percent of the sugar industry,” he said.
‘STOP THE BICKERING’
Rep. Emilio Yulo (Neg. Occ., 5th District) urged all sugar stakeholders to “stop the bickering and help address the situation.”
Yulo said he is also calling on the SRA to “institute immediate measures to arrest the downward prices.”
“We want to see better prices by Thursday next week; that should be the endgame,” Yulo said.
He asked that sugar farmers be given a reprieve as “our small farmers have suffered more than enough from the calamities, the pest infestations, to very low prices, and with the way things have been going in the past weeks, they can barely make ends meet.”
Yulo said most of the bickering is coming from the millers and big planters, many of whom can actually afford to wait it out until prices improve.
“However, our small farmers don’t have that luxury, and it is incumbent upon all
stakeholders of the sugar industry to take a look into their state and help each other out instead of debating with each other,” Yulo added.
He also said there have been groups calling out policymakers to conduct investigations “but putting this in the hands of the policymakers will take longer as they are fond of debating issues”.
“At this point, we cannot afford to wait for their action or inaction. We don’t want cause analysis; we need immediate results, and the endgame is simple,” he said.
“All we are asking is to allow our small planters to also have a merry Christmas,” he said.*