SRA to study options amid call for importation of sugar
Sugarcane producers have urged the government to import sugar to avoid supply shortages in the country.
Responding to the call, the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said it is currently studying the importation plan before acting on the request.
SRA administrator Pablo Azcona emphasized the need for sugar producers to identify the sugar stock’s trigger points before seeking imports, stating that they will be based on the study of the actual demand or withdrawals, as per historical data.
“We have a [buffer stock] figure of 185,000 to 200,000 that we should maintain… When we need to import... at the moment it is still undergoing a study if the demand is maintained… dropping, or increasing,” Azcona said.
According to the SRA, the spike in demand for refined sugar was attributed to the early off-milling season that caused consumers to stock up on sugar around
January to August.
In case the three-month supply of buffer stock drops, Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr., along with the SRA, said this would be the right time to begin sugar importation.
“It’s our decision to make it three months because it takes about one month to ship [sugar] from Thailand to the Philippines and other countries and get it released from customs and then inspected.” Azcona elaborated.
Additionally, the buffer stock being given three months would make way for the off-milling season which happens around June to August. In this instance, the sugar administration said that they are initially looking at bringing in refined imports, but there have been suggestions coming from the refiners to seek raw sugar as well.
The SRA administration hopes to evade another sugar crisis similar to the production decline in 2022. Sugar outputs dropped to an unusual low because of the damage caused by Typhoon Odette in Negros Occidental, the Philippines’ largest sugarproducing zone.
Earlier, the United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED) urged the government to import around 200,000 metric tons supply because of the severe El Niño damage in Negros’ sugarcane plantations.
“As of now, we have stable stock and price as well as retail. We’re just maintaining this stability,” he emphasized. “We’re preventing the drop in supply to a level that would insecure the retail market. We want to avoid the ₱120 to ₱130 retail price since our sugarcane farmers are retail consumers, [and] we buy sugar from the retail market… They all need stability so that farmgate and retail prices don’t drop or hike. There is a need for balance.”
He further explained that stabilizing the sugar supply is needed since the industrial sector must have a secure sugar stock to run their factories.