BY MAE SINGUAY
BACOLOD City – The United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED) in Negros Occidental sought the intervention of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) as sugar prices dropped.
“This is artificial pricing. Somebody is playing with the market and an immediate intervention to curb downtrend in sugar prices is very much needed,” said UNIFED president Manual Lamata.
He said a huge drop in milling prices averaging P100 loss per 50-kilogram bag of sugar was recorded this week.
“We urged the DA and the SRA to intervene as soon as possible and to unmask the culprits who are playing with us,” Lamata further said.
UNIFED has suspicions that artificial pricing is being caused by traders who want to profit big at the expense of sugar farmers and they should be exposed.
Lamata said that while mill prices are dropping, retail prices remain constant and will probably even hike due to the holidays which mean more profit for them.
“I am also rallying the farmers to hold on to their sugar until prices stabilize,” Lamata said, adding that while he knows this is easier said than done especially for small farmers who are dependent on their weekly trade “we may all need to tighten our belts so we will not be abused by these unscrupulous traders.”
Mill prices averaged at P2,500 per bag of sugar on Thursday, Nov. 29, at a time when farmers are hoping that prices will be at P2,800 per bag of sugar to make a little profit.
Since the start of the milling season, prices have been erratically dipping and increasing contrary to the supply and demand figures which raised suspicions that somebody is profiting from recent events.
“We need the DA and SRA’s intervention to prop-up sugar prices at a comfortable level to prevent further losses especially now when there is also the issue of sugar purity that has gone down due to the long drought,” Lamata said.
He further said: “If government will come in and hopefully start buying our sugar, we will only sell directly to the government and they can sell directly to the people, eliminating these traders until prices will stabilize.”/PN
