Sugar prices dropped from PhP 2,800 to PhP 2,700 per bag last crop year to only PhP 2,200 to PhP 2,300 last week.*Ronnie Baldonado file photo
“Sugarcane farmers deserve an explanation why sugar and molasses prices have dropped to a level much lower than during the milling season’s opening last crop year,” National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP) president Enrique D. Rojas and Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers (PANAYFED) president Danilo A. Abelita said in a joint statement on Sunday, Oct . 12.
The statement was in reaction to the open letter from the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations (CONFED) president Aurelio Gerardo J. Javellana Jr. issued Friday (October 10) and addressed to Sugar Regulatory Administrator Pablo Luis S. Azcona, calling on the SRA for “transparency and action on the decline of sugar and molasses prices”.
In its open letter, CONFED lamented “the steep decline in both sugar and molasses prices compared to last year, which it attributed to “the over-importation of sugar and molasses, that have flooded the market, depressed prices, and left producers without buyers”, compounded by “the unmonitored influx of artificial sweeteners, which has further disrupted market demand”.
Considering that SRA possesses real-time data on sugar supply and withdrawals, CONFED contended this dire situation could have been averted, if only SRA diligently discharged its mandate to “establish and maintain such balanced relation between production and requirement of sugar and such marketing conditions as will insure stabilized prices at a level reasonably profitable to the producers and fair to consumers”.
“The situation we now face is not simply an unfortunate market trend but the consequences of poor planning, lack of coordination, and failure to protect the industry from foreseeable risks,” CONFED said.
“The drop in sugar prices, from PhP 2,800 to PhP 2,700 per bag last crop year to only PhP 2,200 to PhP 2,300 last week, is a huge blow to sugar farmers who are still reeling from the increases in cost of production and the effects of the RSSI infestation,” Rojas and Abelita said.
“To ensure reasonable millgate prices when we start milling this crop year, the NFSP and PANAYFED, together with CONFED, already cautioned SRA, as early as the July 7, 2025 consultative meeting with industry stakeholders, that the importation should only be 150,000 metric tons, and that stakeholders should be consulted if there is a need for additional importation,” the two planters federations pointed out.
“SRA should explain why this drastic drop in sugar prices and molasses happened. However, an explanation is not enough. Our planter-members and all sugar farmers deserve to know what tangible action the SRA will implement to remedy this sorry state of state of affairs in the sugar industry,” NFSP and PANAYFED said.*