BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – In a letter to the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations (CONFED) called for open, transparent and fair sugar importation.
Earlier, CONFED and several other sugar groups proposed the importation of only 350,000 metric tons (MT), compared to SRA’s proposal of 450,000 MT.
In a letter signed by CONFED president Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama Jr. addressed to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who is also the concurrent Department of Agriculture Secretary, the group pointed out that importation should be allocated on a 50:50 ratio between industrial users and sugar producers.
Valderrama also reiterated that the importation volume should be composed of 300,000 MT of refined sugar and 50,000 MT of raw sugar to arrive no earlier than July of this year.
Moreover, CONFED urged SRA to adopt transparent importation guidelines and allow the participation not only of industrial users but also of sugar producers and other interested accredited sugar traders.
Accredited sugar traders should also be qualified to apply for and import 50 percent of the proposed volume.
For sugar producers, the importation allocation should be based on their percentage of production in the crop year 2021–2022.
For industrial users, their allocation should be based on SRA-verified requirements, as determined by their record of excise tax or VAT payments, and subject to voluntary submission of applications and records of actual importation by accredited sugar traders.
To ensure transparency, CONFED further recommended that all applications for importation be submitted within five days of the effective date of the appropriate sugar order.
All submitted applications should be opened at the end of the five days and then published and made available to all applicants. Within 10 working days after the deadline for submission, the evaluation of applications should be conducted and immediately awarded and announced, CONFED emphasized./PN
