BACOLOD City – The farm gate price of sugar decreased starting the first week of October, the Sugar Regulatory Administration said, urging producers to sell at lower retail prices.
As of the week ending Oct. 7, the farm gate price was down to P1,634.58 per 50 kilograms from a high of P2,003.60 at the close of the milling in July.
This meant a difference of almost P400, or an 18-percent drop in prices, SRA administrator Hermenegildo Serafica said in a statement released Friday.
Prices of sugar have been on the downtrend since the milling season started on Sept. 1 and the issuance of Sugar Order No. 2 (SO2) on Sugar Import Program for crop year 2018-2019 on Oct. 1, said Serafica.
“[The] SRA continues to monitor prices in supermarkets and wet markets,” he said. “Those who sell at prices higher than the prevailing prices are asked to explain.”
The SRA Board issued the SO2 in compliance with President Rodrigo Duterte’s Administrative Order No. 13, which directs the removal of nontariff barriers and the streamlining of administrative procedures on the import of agricultural products.
A total of 64,475 metric tons – 1,289,500 Lkg (50-kilogram bags) of sugar – are on their way to the ports as of 2:30 p.m. Friday, Serafica said.
MORE MILLS, REFINERIES OPERATE
Meanwhile the SRA official said seven sugar mills and five sugar refineries have been operating starting Sept. 1.
Local raw sugar production has reached 1,623,040 Lkg while local refined sugar production has yielded 928,508 Lkg.
“More mills and refineries are scheduled to open in the coming weeks,” said Serafica.
Moreover, the SRA gave supermarkets the contact details of mills and refineries where they can directly buy sugar at a low cost.
“The SRA also encourages planters’ associations to sell directly to local groceries in their area,” said Serafica.
“I have been speaking to planters’ associations, planters’ federations and millers, and they agreed to make their sugar available at their offices and sell directly to ordinary consumers at P50 per kilogram for refined, P45 for washed and P41 for raw,” he said.
In Negros Occidental, Confederation of Sugar Producers’ member-planters have been direct-selling low-priced sugar to consumers since Oct. 6.
The La Carlota Mill District Multipurpose Cooperative and the Asosacion De Agricultores De La Carlota Y Pontevedra, Inc. in La Carlota City are selling washed or premium raw sugar at only P45 per kilogram.
The same quality of sugar is retailed between P48 and P56 per kilo in markets across the province. (PNA)
