BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) is collating figures from sugar mills to determine the total volume of sugar needed to be imported by the end of this month.
SRA acting administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said the directive from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was to ensure that the final import volume is based on the latest supply report, provided it does not exceed 150,000 metric tons (MT).
“This will include the additional buffer volume of 100,000 MT, especially if we consider delaying the opening of mills to September 2023 instead of August to increase productivity,” Azcona said.
Azcona assured sugar stakeholders the SRA is carefully studying the supply conditions before they peg the final figures.
He added that the big drop in refined sugar production this crop year was due to the shortened refining operations due to the lack of bagasse that fuels the mills brought on by massive rains.
As of May 7, Azcona said only 11 of 24 sugar mills are still in operation, and the majority of them will close down by the end of May.
The sudden closure of the Central Azucarera de Don Pedro in Batangas also affected local supply.
Current actual production is 1,760,840 MT, and they are looking at another 20,000 metric tons from the remaining mills that are in operation. However, it is still way below the forecasted demand of 2.2 million metric tons.
“Needless to say, we will soon be conducting consultations with various stakeholders on what we can do in preparation for the next milling season to improve productivity towards self-sufficiency, and again, we may strongly consider delaying the opening of the milling season as part of the solution,” he added./PN
