THE Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has greenlighted the importation of 440,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar for 2023.
The SRA said this batch of imports will come on a staggered basis: 100,000 metric tons will arrive as soon as possible, while another 100,000 metric tons will arrive starting April 1, the SRA said.
The remainder comprising 240,000 metric tons will be the country’s buffer stock, the agency said.
While local production is rising, it is not enough to supply the needs of the country until the end of the year, it added.
This batch of imports is expected to last until the next milling season.
The importation is also meant to temper prices rising from supply-demand shocks.
“The initial pressure is to bring down the retail price. We were expecting the retail price to go down substantially in the last import and the start of the new milling,” SRA Board member Pablo Azcona said, noting that the target is to bring down the retail price of sugar to P85 per kilo.
Data from the Department of Agriculture’s price monitoring as of Feb. 14 showed the price of refined sugar in Metro Manila markets ranging from P87 to P110 per kilo.
“The lowering of retail prices depends on supply. We asked the opinion of wholesalers and retailers, and they are all basing their pricing on their purchase of raw sugar from farmers natin. Any importation po, sugar will come in at a lower price, the cheaper imported sugar will average out the more expensive local sugar. At the end we will come up with a better retail price,” Azcona explained. (ABS-CBN News/GMA Integrated News)
