BACOLOD City – Members of the Confederation of Sugar Producers (Confed) in Negros Occidental have begun direct selling low-priced sugar.
Confed – the country’s biggest group of sugar producers – on Saturday announced that the move, being implemented in line with the Department of Agriculture’s Malasakit Program, is one way to address the rising inflation.
The measure came after Sugar Regulatory Administration chief Hermenegildo Serafica conducted a dialogue with the sugar planters in Talisay City, Negros Occidental.
Serafica said he is “hoping that this gesture would be replicated by all sugar producers in the country.”
The La Carlota Mill District Multipurpose Cooperative and the Associacion de Agricultores de La Carlota y Pontevedra are selling premium raw sugar at only P45 per kilogram (kg).
The retail price of premium raw sugar in Negros Occidental is between P48 to P56 per kg.
Confed-Negros president Nicolas Ledesma said they will urge their national office to implement the same measure in sugar districts nationwide.
Ledesma said selling low-priced sugar is “part of our share in helping this government that has also helped us in the past two years when the sugar industry was beset with problems, particularly on the entry of high-fructose corn syrup.”
Ledesma added that their sugar produce will only be sold to local consumers. This is to avoid abuse from other retailers.
“This will solely be under the Malasakit Program and will only be for a minimum volume, which will be repacked directly by member-associations on a per-kg basis,” he added. (With a report from PNA/PN)
