The United States has reduced its planned 17 percent tariff on sugar to 10 percent, Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) chief Pablo Luis Azcona said on Saturday, April 19.
The existing US sugar quota tariff is 1.46 cents per pound, he said.
The US announced that the planned 17 percent tariff has been suspended and only a 10 percent tariff will be imposed on top of the existing 1.46 cents per pound, he said.
“The suspension of the 17 percent is until July 9 after which we do not know what will happen”, Azcona said.
The Philippines that has a 143,000-metric ton share in the US Sugar Quota has allocated 66,235 MT of raw sugar for export to the United States for crop year 2024-2025, Azcona said.
The Philippines is shipping out the first half of the allocation in May and the second half in June, the SRA chief said earlier.
The Philippines will try to load, ship and land its sugar in the US before July 9, he said.
Azcona said he held a consultation with the industry stakeholders on April 15 and they all agreed to the plan.
Exporters earlier aired their alarm over US President Donald Trump’s imposition of a 17 percent tariff on Philippine goods, including sugar.*