• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP) and various labor groups supported the Confederation of Sugar Producers Association (CONFED) in asking President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to implement a government-financed buying program to avert the sugar crisis due to the plummeting millgate prices of sugar.
NFSP president Enrique Rojas said that while they lauded the present administration, especially Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel, for declaring that there will be no importation until December this year, the industry needs more immediate and direct government intervention to help sugar farmers who are on the brink of economic collapse.
Rojas said the proposed Sugar Order No. 2 intends to implement a sugar export-import program to address the prevailing problem of very low sugar prices which has hounded sugar farmers since the start of this crop year.
Under the proposal, he said traders will buy four bags of domestically produced sugar, then export one bag and import three bags.
Rojas recalled that a similar program under Sugar Order No. 2 (Crop Year 2024-2025), as well as Sugar Order No. 5 (CY 2024-2025) and Sugar Order No. 8 (CY 2024-2025), caused the current oversupply of sugar in the domestic market.
He blamed the steep decline in millgate sugar prices to over importation in the past crop years, stressing also that additional sugar importation under the guise of an export-import program cannot solve the problem of prevailing low sugar prices.
CONFED, in a letter addressed to PBBM, pushed for measures to arrest the further decline of sugar and molasses prices.
As an alternative to the proposed SO #2, CONFED suggested a government financed buying program, where domestic raw sugar to be purchased at a minimum of P2,300/lkg and to be refined by local refiners, and sold wholesale for the consumer market at profitable, but lower than prevailing prices.
Stressing that it is not a subsidy program, it will enable the government to recover its “investment”, improve millgate buying prices, reduce retail prices for consumers, and allow local refining operations to recover, CONFED added.
The sugar federation also suggested holding all remaining imported refined sugar not yet reclassified into “B”, until a predefined trigger point provides basis for its release to end-users. This can help limit the volume of imported sugar available for end-users and improve the market for domestic refined sugar.
As to the molasses program, CONFED proposed the convening of the National Biofuel Board (NBB) to resolve regulatory issues and rationalize/stabilize the molasses market.
With regards to the sugar importation policy, it should be clear, data-supported, transparent and predictable policy environment that will establish the guidelines for determination of volume, timing and mechanics of future sugar importation programs, CONFED further said.
The details regarding funding requirements, sources and implementing mechanics of the proposed Government-financed sugar buying program are best threshed out by a technical working group tasked to formulate a doable program at the earliest possible time, the group added, stressing also the inclusion of the industry stakeholders in the TWG.
Rojas, in a letter to President Marcos Jr., said they believe that the implementation of those measures will have an immediate and long-lasting impact on ensuring that sugar farmers will enjoy a fair return from their sugar farming endeavors.
The National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines (NACUSIP-TUCP), the Philippine Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial Workers Union (PACIWU), the Congress of Independent Organizations (CIO-UNI) labor unions in the sugar industry, and the NACUSIP Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Council (NACUSIP ARB Council), representing the majority of organized laborers in sugar mills, sugar refineries, and sugar farms, have expressed their support to the CONFED proposals.
Stressing that small farmers now comprise the majority members of farmers’ associations, they are the hardest hit sector, the labor groups said in a separate letter to PBBM.
They added that the CONFED proposals are the only available and viable solutions presented to dampen the adverse effect of over-importation to the sugar industry stakeholders.
Stressing that they are in desperate need for immediate solutions, the labor groups said the workers and farmers are now entertaining the idea of mounting coordinated but peaceful public protest against the slow and delayed help from the Department of Agriculture and the Sugar Regulatory Administration.
Let your intervention be your legacy, they told the President.*
