DA official: Sugar imports via MAV scheme unlikely to temper prices

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said the importation of sugar via the minimum access volume (MAV) scheme may not make a dent in the domestic prices of the sweetener.

DA Deputy Spokesman Rex C. Estoperez said sugar imported via the MAV scheme will likely be sold at current prices due to high tariffs.

“The tariff for MAV compared to those, which come from regular importation, is higher. So its price will not go down,” Estoperez said in a televised interview last Tuesday.

The government imposes a 50 percent tariff on sugar imported within MAV and 65 percent for those outside of MAV.

MAV refers to the volume of a specific agricultural product that is allowed to be imported with a lower tariff as committed by the Philippines to the World Trade Organization under the Uruguay Round Final Act.

However, most of the sugar imports of the country come from Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which are slapped with only a 5-percent tariff.

Estoperez issued the statement amid concerns the arrival of the imported sugar will coincide with the harvest season of sugarcane which could affect millgate prices.

“What we are saying is for them to help bring [sugar] in urban centers, where the price of sugar is high, so they can help in bringing it down,” he said.

Last week, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. ordered the DA to import over 64,050 metric tons of regined sugar to help “stabilize” its price since it has been driving up inflation.

With the arrival of the imported sugar, the president hopes to arrest the continuous rise in sugar prices.

Estoperez has also confirmed that three parties have already applied for the MAV.

However, before the sugar importation can proceed, he said, it will still go through numerous “finalities.”

“First, we will get the position of the millers, PSMA [Philippine Sugar Millers Association Inc.]. Then we will convene the council. The Minimum Access Volume Management Council to decide on the recommendation [for importation].”

Last week, sugarcane planters called on the government anew to undertake measures that will bring down the retail prices of sugar, which have remained elevated despite the decline in mill-gate prices.

The Confederation of Sugar Producers Association Inc., Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers Inc., and the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters Inc. also urged the government to engage the industry in an “earnest” dialogue. The three sugarcane producers’ federations represent 50 percent of domestic production.

“We share government’s concern over the current inf lation rate hounding the Philippine economy. This inflation has hurt not only consumers, but also Filipino farmers who are reeling from escalating costs of production. We thus support any reasonable measures to curb inflation,” they said in a statement.

“We are therefore concerned that the reportedly ‘very high inflation rate of sugar, confectioneries and desserts’ is seen as a major contributor to inflation, and that measures must be taken to stabilize not only supply but prices of sugar in the domestic market,” they added.

The producers’ groups, however, said that importing sugar via the MAV scheme to bring down the retail prices of sugar at this time is unwarranted.