By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
BACOLOD City – The importation of 150,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar is a “stopgap measure” because supply from the mills is expected to flow into the market as refineries will be in full operation by next month.
This is according to David John Thaddeus Alba, administrator of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).
Alba, on Wednesday morning, Sept. 14, said they allocated an all “B” sugar, or 100 percent of domestic sugar, based on the projected production, which will be lower than the current demand.
Earlier, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. approved the importation of 150,000 MT of refined sugar to ensure domestic supply and manage sugar prices.
The SRA board, chaired by Marcos as the concurrent Agriculture secretary, issued Sugar Order No. 2 (SO2) series of 2022-2023 on Tuesday that authorized the first importation program for the current crop year.
The order was also signed by other members of the board—Alba, Ma. Mitzi Mangwag (sugar millers’ representative), Pablo Luis Azcona (sugar planters’ representative), and Senior Agriculture Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban.
Alba also said that the Sugar Board passed an importation program in order to address the tightness of sugar supply and to serve both industrial users and consumers.
“This import program is just a stopgap measure. In fact, some sugar mills have already started milling, and we will soon see a steady supply of sugar. Nevertheless, SRA is regularly monitoring the supply and demand situation so we can act accordingly,” he pointed out.
The SO2 was filed by the SRA at the Office of the National Administrative Register (ONAR), UP Law Center, on Tuesday afternoon, together with SO1 which formalized the sugar policy for the current crop year 2022-2023.
It will take effect three days after the filing at the ONAR.
“After taking into consideration all comments, inputs and information, the SRA deems it necessary to adopt additional, responsive, preemptive measures to ensure domestic supply and manage sugar prices in order to achieve the foregoing policy declarations through timely government intervention by way of importation in order to maintain a balanced supply and demand of sugar for domestic consumption,” SO2 said.
Under SO2, the 150,000 MT of refined sugar imported would be equally divided between industrial users and consumers.
The eligible participants for the import program are all duly registered SRA international sugar traders in good standing for the crop years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 and with renewed registration for the crop year 2022-2023.
Industrial users is defined as food, confectioneries, biscuits, bread, candies, milk, juice, and beverage manufacturers that use refined sugar in the production of their finished products for sale exclusively in the domestic market.
Meanwhile, consumers, based on SO2, shall refer to wholesalers and traders engaged in selling sugar in bulk to retailers, and retailers shall refer to individuals selling sugar in small quantities to the general public for consumption.
The SO2 specified that the allocation per registered SRA international sugar trader be prorated.
Eligible participants seeking to import sugar for industrial use will be prorated based on their excise tax payments for fiscal year 2020-2021.
Furthermore, sugar importers that participated in the previous import program under the SO3 series of 2021-2022 cannot participate in the new import program to bring in sugar for commercial use.
The SRA will start accepting applications for sugar importation under SO2 within three days after the effectiveness of the sugar order.
The 150,000 MT of sugar imports must arrive in the country not later than Nov. 15, with all the eligible participants given one month from Nov. 15 to completely distribute all their allocations to their respective clients./PN
