The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) announced on Monday, May 19, that the country’s sugar production for crop year 2024-2025 is expected to be almost five percent higher than its target despite the effects of the extreme El Niño last year.
Production is expected to end at 1.837 million metric tons from the initial estimate of 1.782 million MT, SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said in a press statement.
Their initial estimate was quite low as “this was based on the health and assessment of the sugarcane after the extreme El Niño”, he said
“We are currently at 1.815 million tons of sugar produced and despite the low sugar producer per ton of cane (LKGTC), we attribute the production to the increase in sugarcane tonnage per hectare planted, Azcona said.
Visayas accounts for the biggest share produced at 71 percent of the total production with Negros Island accounting for 63 percent of total produce, Panay with 6.3 percent and the rest coming from the Cebu and Leyte plantations, he said.
Mindanao which is touted to be the next frontier for the sugar industry is estimated to end the crop year with almost 24 percent of the country’s produce and Luzon contributing almost 5 percent of the total production, he said.
“We are ending on a positive note and we can attribute this to the effort of this administration to prioritize research through development and propagation of new SRA sugarcane varieties, improving soil condition, irrigation, and even changing the sugarcane cropping calendar to better suit the climate are now paying off,” Azcona said.
Azcona said that their thrust has been helping stabilize prices since 2022.
“Fair farm gate prices encouraged farmers to risk replanting their El Niño damaged canes, using new SRA varieties as they were hopeful that prices would eventually make up for the very high cost of production”, he said.
Azcona said “fair prices are also encouraging new farmers to plant sugarcane”.
“We hope next milling we will get higher tonnage and most importantly, more sugar per ton of cane (LKGTC),” he added.
Mindanao has the highest average LkgTC at 1.74 while Negros is averaging 1.65 and Panay and Luzon at 1.54, he said.
URC La Carlota Sugar Mill has ended their milling season with Binalbagan-Isabela Sugar Company (BISCOM) and URC SONEDCO expected to close this week, Azcona said.*