BACOLOD City – The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) met with its stakeholders to discuss Sugar Order (SO) No. 2, which encourages voluntary purchase of local sugar for reclassification to reserve sugar to avail of allocation for future importation program.
On Tuesday, Jan. 21, SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona convened representatives of planters groups, millers and refiners, as well as traders, importers and exporters, at the SRA office here.
“This [voluntary purchase of local sugar] was received well by industry stakeholders, particularly the farmers group as this is expected to stabilize prices at a level reasonably profitable to the farmers as well as to the consumers,” Azcona said.
He added that SO No. 2 provides an opportunity to anyone who has a domestic sugar trading license, thus allowing even individual farmers, farmers groups, associations and cooperatives to participate in the program.
“This program is similar to what we implemented last year which was well received as this removes any subjectivity to the import allocation process because allocation will be performance-based,” Azcona said. “Those who support and purchase more from our local farmers will be given a bigger allocation in our future import programs.”
For its part, the Sugar Council lauded Azcona for coming up with the program which benefits sugar farmers and for conducting a consultation with all industry stakeholders before finalizing the sugar order for the said program.
“We laud Administrator Azcona for crafting a program which will protect us from price fluctuations during the peak of the harvest, for discussing with all stakeholders the proposed program, and for reiterating there will be no importation until May or June when the harvest is finished,” a press statement from the Sugar Council read.
Azcona, meanwhile, thanked the sugar stakeholders for “coming together” following a fresh start this year after stakeholders gathered together to lend support to the Department of Agriculture (DA) and SRA.
“This coming together shows we are off to a good start this year and both the DA and the SRA hope that this enthusiasm from our industry stakeholders will continue,” he added./PN
