The Philippines will delay its decision on sugar importation until mid-2025, Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said Sunday, Nov. 10.
They will wait for the conclusion of the current crop year’s harvest, to determine if the country’s actual domestic supply is adequate before making a decision, he said.
Azcona said the decision was reached at a meeting with Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. at the Department of Agriculture Office in Quezon City on Thursday, Nov.7.
Laurel said there is no immediate need for additional imports as domestic supply of both raw and refined sugar remains stable and sufficient to meet projected needs.
“Given the current situation, Administrator Azcona and I agreed that a decision on sugar importation could be delayed until after May, when the current harvest season ends,” Laurel said.
Azcona said the country’s supply of raw and refined sugar is stable.
“We are just beginning our harvest season, so Sec Laurel and I agree that there will be no sugar imports until after harvest sometime in May or June” next year, Azcona said.
He said the current harvest season started slowly, with total cane volume reaching only a third of the amount harvested around the same period in the last crop year.
Azcona attributed this to lower sugar content per ton of cane due to El Niño.
“Farmers had to delay their harvests to allow the cane to mature further and increase sugar content,” Azcona said.
The prolonged dry spell brought by El Niño resulted in the cane being physiologically immature, resulting in a 16 percent lower sugar content per ton of cane, thus constraining sugar output despite an increase in planting areas, he said.
SRA data shows that the area planted to sugarcane this year increased slightly to 389,461 hectares, up from 388,378 hectares the previous crop year, Azcona said.
In Sugar Order No. 1 the SRA estimated this crop year’s sugar production at 1.782 million, a 7.2 percent drop from last year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts a 3.6 percent decline in Philippine raw sugar production for the current crop year, Azcona said.
It projected that output will fall to 1.85 million metric tons from 1.92 million metric tons in the previous crop year, he added.
Present at the meeting of Azcona and Laurel were SRA Board Member Dave Sanson and Andre Corro.*