MANILA – Beverage manufacturers are switching to raw sugar from high fructose corn syrup to avoid higher taxes, driving up demand for local sugar, a regulator said recently.
Under the first tranche of tax reforms that took effect last Jan. 1, drinks sweetened with high fructose corn syrup are taxed P12 per liter, while those using caloric and non-caloric sweeteners such as raw sugar are taxed P6 per liter.
“The industry has opted to use local sugar,” Sugar Regulatory Administration head Hermenegildo Serafica said. “That’s good for the local industry.”
The Sugar Board recently approved the importation of 200,000 tons of sugar to help meet demand as local production is expected to reach 2.1 million tons this year, compared to the record 2.5 million tons in 2017, he said.
In some parts of the country, Serafica said sugar farmers were switching to pineapple and bananas because of higher rent on land, which could quadruple to P45,000 per hectare from P8,000 to P10,000 per hectare. (ABS-CBN News)
