Sugar planters are hoping for a reversal of the recent plunge in millgate sugar prices as the first bidding rounds for 2026 take place Wednesday and Thursday, January 7 and 8.
Enrique Rojas, president of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP), said Tuesday that sugar prices since the start of Crop Year 2025-2026 have remained below the production costs of marginal sugar farmers and agrarian reform beneficiaries.
These groups constitute at least 80 percent of the sugar farmers in the country, he said.
Compared to price levels from the previous crop year, Rojas emphasized that farmers are currently losing between ₱200 and ₱300 for every bag of sugar they produce.
Manuel Lamata, president of the United Sugar Producers Federation, said the bidding price on December 22, 2024, stood at ₱2,537 per bag. In contrast, the price on December 21, 2025, dropped to ₱2,174—representing a significant decrease of ₱363 per 50-kilogram bag, he said.*