BACOLOD City – The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said sugar stock levels have been constant in the past couple of months and claims from certain groups that there is an oversupply of sugar that purportedly caused a drop in sugar prices is laced with malice.
“Unless it is their goal to announce oversupply to purposely try and lower prices, for reasons they only know,” the SRA said.
SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona decried the presumption of the Sugar Council and National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry (NACUSIP) that the recent joint announcement made by the SRA and the Department of Agriculture (DA) that no importation will happen until post-harvest was intended to curb the drop in mill gate prices.
“There was no other intention for that announcement other than stand by our mandate to be transparent and keep the stakeholders informed, and the Sugar Council would have known that if they attend stakeholders meetings being called by the DA and SRA instead of propagating lies through the media, to cause separation and instability within the industry,” Azcona said.
He added, “I used to have respect for those so-called sugar leaders, who I thought were my friends since childhood, and I’ve always reiterated that I am a phone call away. However, they would rather bring their concerns before the media to further destabilize the industry, then send a letter after the fact, and that does not sit well with me.”
The announcement of no importation until end of harvest which is sometime May or June next year depending on harvest circumstances was simply an announcement for stakeholders, and nothing more, said Azcona.
“All of the SRA and DA’s plans are discussed in stakeholder meetings led by DA Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, the last of which was August 6 but just like in other instances, the Sugar Council snubbed this meeting,” he added.
He reiterated that stocks of raw and refined sugar are at the proper levels, maintaining the needed buffers.
“As of November 10, 2024, our production of sugar is down by 61 percent, and we have prepared for this with the proper buffer supply, and as to their claims of over supply for both raw and refined sugar, we are currently 35-37 percent below the levels recorded last year,” Azcona said./PN
