SRA board members push for 100% ‘B’ sugar

MEMBERS of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) board want to allocate all sugar output to the domestic market to ensure that the country’s supply of the sweetener would be sufficient as production is expected to fall slightly in crop year (CY) 2021-2022.

The Businessmirror learned that the two sugar industry representatives to the Sugar Board have voted for an all “B” or domestic market sugar allocation for CY 2021-2022, which starts on September 1.

The industry representatives also lamented the lack of “proper interventions” to boost the sugar industry’s productivity amid the threat of climate change.

In a letter to the SRA board dated August 28, Roland B. Beltran, who represents the millers sector, voted for a “B” classification for the next crop year’s output.

Beltran indicated that his vote was based on the projected raw sugar output of 2.099 million metric tons (MMT) for CY 2021-2022, which is slightly lower than the two-year average of 2.14 MMT due to the adverse impact of La Niña on sugarcanes.

Emilio Bernardino L. Yulo, who represents the sugar producers’ sector, also voted for the “B” classification of the entire sugar output for the next crop year.

“We need to ensure domestic supply and our food security amid the pandemic,” Yulo told the Businessmirror in an interview.

The SRA’S pre-milling estimate for the next crop year stood at 2.099 MMT, which was based on expectations of above normal rainfall condition from October 2021 to January 2022 in Batangas and Negros Island, which are sugarproducing provinces.

“Slightly above normal rainfall” is also expected for Bukidnon from December 2021 to January next year, based on the state weather bureau’s forecast.

Despite having 158,577 metric tons (MT) of carry-over raw sugar stocks, the country’s sugar supply would be “better served with an all ‘B’ sugar domestic sugar allocation” for the next crop year, based on projections obtained by the Businessmirror.

‘Disappointing’

THE two sugar board members expressed disappointment over the “dismal” performance of the country’s sugar industry in the previous crop years.

They said the government must act “more proactively” by implementing “aggressive and correct interventions” to improve the industry’s productivity despite the threat of La Niña.

Beltran and Yulo said the government cannot always blame La Niña for the decline in sugar output. They also noted that the country’s sugar output has remained stagnant while the country’s population is expanding every year.

“Inevitably, the demand for local sugar will outpace the supply thereby denigrating the mandate of SR A ‘to establish and maintain such balanced relation between production and requirement of sugar and such marketing conditions as well insure stabilized prices at a level reasonably profitable to the producers and fair to consumers,” Beltran said in his letter.

Beltran and Yulo also lamented the lack of a national program that would encourage or initiate the expansion of sugarcane areas in the country.

“Sadly, opportunities were lost and squandered because of ineptitude and wrong prioritization. Among the many problems that beset the sugar industry is that the combined land area planted by sugarcane is fast declining, and there has been no policy and program aggressively pursued to explore and develop land areas suitable for sugarcane plantation,” Beltran added.

Yulo said the sugar industry must adapt to climate change since La Niña has become a perennial problem.

“We do not expect planted area to increase any sooner and it is even dwindling due to other business opportunities. We need to ramp up domestic production amid the challenge of climate change,” he said.

“There is no national expansion program. We should not be contended with the current situation. The government should be doing its homework on what is going to happen in the next three to five years.”

Beltran said he anticipates a “bleak and disturbing” future for the sugar industry unless measures that are “substantial, inclusive and sustainable are immediately put in place.”

“We cannot forever blame the weather for the low production of raw sugar without finding ways on how to reverse the trend and increase it. It is lamentable that there has been no significant improvement despite the subsidy from the government through the SIDA [Sugarcane Industry Development Act] funds, not to mention the corporate funds of SRA that had been disbursed by the millions of pesos,” he said.

“As the writing on the wall becomes clearer, the sugar industry might be counting what is left of its productive years.”