PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday, May 15, approved the additional importation of up to 150,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar in an effort to stabilize the commodity’s price amid continued inflation.
Marcos met with officials from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) in Malacañang, particularly acting administrator Pablo Luis Azcona and board member Ma. Mitzi Mangwang, who attended on behalf of the country’s sugar millers.
“We agreed to additional importation of sugar to stabilize the prices. Maximum amount will be 150,000 MT but probably less,” Marcos Jr. said after the meeting.
“The exact amount will be determined once we have determined the exact amount of supply, which will come at the end of this month,” he added, noting that the government was open to import sugar to all traders.
The SRA earlier projected that the Philippines would have a negative ending stock of 552,835 metric tons of sugar by the end of the milling season in August.
Because of this, Malacañang said, importing another 100,000 to 150,000 metric tons was necessary to avoid a shortage.
While the SRA noted that the country had a sufficient supply of raw sugar as of May 7, the expected local production and previously approved sugar importations could not cover the country’s demand.
The Philippines is expected to produce 2.4 million metric tons of sugar, and will be importing 440,000 metric tons under Sugar Order No. 6 and another 64,050 metric tons under the minimum access volume mechanism. But this would not be enough to meet the overall demand of 3.1 million metric tons.
Meanwhile, Marcos also approved moving the start of the sugar milling season from August to September this year.
The move is expected to increase production by 10 percent, said Marcos, who also serves as the Agriculture Secretary.
Azcona said opening the milling season in September would improve raw sugar recovery as it would minimize the milling of young canes. He also ordered the SRA to expedite block farming initiatives to also increase production.
“Block farming is a system by which small farm lots are consolidated into at least a 30 hectare-block farm. There are currently 21 block farms in the country averaging at least 40 hectares each,” the Palace said.
“Consolidation is an important part of agro-industrial production. We’re looking at increasing the budget for block farming to accelerate the process of organizing the block farms,” Marcos said. (ABS-CBN News)
