After rice, meat products and fish, the Philippines will next import sugar to stabilize domestic prices that have shot up despite stable local production.
The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said 200,000 metric tons of sugar would be imported for crop year 2021-2022, according to new policy guidelines contained in its Sugar Order No. 3, which was made public on Friday.
âSRA received instructions from the Department of Agriculture to temper the current level of high local sugar prices that it considers at this time a sugar import program,â it said to explain the move.
The SRA said 100,000 metric tons would be standard grade refined sugar while the other 100,000 MT would be âbottlersâ gradeâ refined sugar used by the beverage industry.
The total volume, however, is higher than what sugar producers have recommended.
The SRA said that wholesale and retail prices of raw sugar and refined sugar have reached record highs after Typhoon âOdetteâ (international name: Rai) devastated many parts of the Philippines in December last year, including the sugar-producing regions of Negros, Panay and Eastern Visayas.
SRA Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica said projections were lowered to reflect the impact of the typhoon on the countryâs sugarcane sector, which incurred losses amounting to P1.15 billion.
The production estimate took into account the damage incurred by three refineries and sugar plantations in the Visayas, Serafica told the Inquirer in a text message.
He said that sugar mills and refineries had resumed production and âlocal production is stable,â citing the SRA weekly sugar production report, which on Jan. 23, showed that raw sugar production was up 4.4 percent while refined sugar production rose 46.4 percent compared to the same week last year.
SRA data showed that as of Jan. 23, raw sugar production reached 869,120 MT and supply was 1.1 million MT against a demand of 715,888 MT. Refined sugar production totaled 291,110.15 MT and supply was 523,265.95 MT with demand reaching 389,462.25 MT.
Sugar producers say their production costs are rising with the fuel prices going up. They are appealing for a freeze in fertilizer price hikes.
According to the SRAâs new policy guidelines, importation is âopen and voluntaryâ to industrial users of refined sugar that are duly registered with the SRA as traders in good standing.
The SRA refers to industrial users as âconfectionaries, biscuits, bread, candies, milk, juice, and food and beverage manufacturersâ using refined sugar in manufacturing their products in the country and selling them in the domestic market.
An industrial user may apply to import up to 5,000 MT of standard refined sugar and up to 10,000 MT of bottlersâ grade refined sugarThe SRA offices in Quezon City or in Bacolod City will accept import applications from Feb. 7 to Feb. 11, and on Feb. 14.
Industrial users or international sugar traders are not allowed to transfer or sell any part of their imports to other industrial users or other domestic or international sugar traders.
The SRA said that 25 percent of standard refined sugar imported by industrial users should arrive no sooner than March 1 and the remaining 75 percent no sooner than May 1.
For importers of bottlersâ grade refined sugar, 75 percent of their shipment should come in no sooner than March 1 and the remaining 25 percent no sooner than May 1. (©Philippine Daily Inquirer 2021)
