The Sugar Council and labor groups are calling on the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to urgently address sugar mill-gate prices, warning that current market rates are below production costs and threaten the survival of local farmers.
The Sugar Council, composed of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations (CONFED), the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP), and the Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers (PANAYFED), issued the call on Monday, Oct. 26, along with the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (NACUSIP-TUCP) and the Democratic Association of Labor Organizations (DALO).
Market data from the first weeks of October shows average raw sugar mill-gate prices in Negros Occidental hovering at around ₱2,600 per 50-kilogram bag (LKg), they said in a joint press statement.
They noted that while this rate was previously advocated by producers, rising input costs and diminished farm productivity have made it unviable.
The group is now pushing for a baseline mill-gate price of at least ₱2,900 per LKg to help planters cover surging expenses for fertilizer, fuel hauling, and farm labor.
“The current price, in our opinion, reflects an unreasonable gap between prevailing retail prices for raw sugar (a low of ₱73 per kilo or ₱3,650 per bag) versus offered price of ₱2,600.00 per bag or equivalent to ₱52 per kilo,” the y said in the joint press statement.
“The ₱1,050-per-bag disparity between retail and mill-gate prices reveals an exorbitant price gap that remains difficult to justify, even after accounting for the legitimate margins of traders, wholesalers, repackers, and retailers,” the statement added.
The appeal comes as sugarcane fields struggle to recover from widespread damage caused by red-striped soft scale insect (RSSI) infestations and adverse weather conditions. Field reports indicate low tonnage and reduced sugar recovery (LKg/TC), compounding financial strain on producers.
According to a comparative study cited by the group, a planter averaging a low yield of 65 net tons of cane per hectare (Ntc/ha) and 1.5 LKg/TC requires a minimum mill-gate price of ₱2,900 per bag just to break even under current field conditions.
At the current ₱2,600 market rate, small farmers and agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) are operating at a loss, the press statement said.
The coalition warned that without government intervention, financially distressed farmers will lack the resources to finance inputs for the next cropping season.
This ongoing shortfall risks further lowering sugarcane supply for already stressed mills, triggering a cycle of mounting losses across the entire sugar industry chain, the coalition added.*
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