A sugar planters group is calling on Agriculture Secretary William Dar to stop the country’s importation of molasses or put a cap on it to the volume needed only if there is a shortage.
Planters’ Association of Southern Negros (PASON) president, Jesus Adrian Campos Jr., in a letter to Dar, said the continued importation of molasses allowed by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has resulted in the sharp decrease of the prices of molasses, from a high of P14,000 per ton to P9,000 per ton in Crop Year 2020-21, a big drop of P5,000 per ton.
“If this policy of SRA will continue, the sugar producers, both millers and farmers, will stand to lose P5.8 billion for crop year 2021-2022, assuming that the sugar industry will produce the same volume of 1,161,240 tons that it produced last crop year,” he said.
Campos said SRA is imposing a levy of P400 for every ton of imported molasses, and in Crop Year 2020-21 it earned millions of pesos “while the sugar farmers lost hundreds of millions because of the big drop of molasses prices”.
“The sugar farmers need this additional income so that they will be able to meet the rising cost of inputs and modernize their farm operations. Increasing the income of farmers will have a big impact on the economy of the country because of the multiplier benefits that it will bring to the countryside,” Campos told Dar.*