• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson yesterday said that there is no problem with additional sugar importation, for as long as the prices of sugar will not go down.
Lacson said that sugar planters are currently happy with high prices of sugar during the first year of administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
With Negrenses occupying key positions at the Sugar Regulatory Administration, Lacson said he is hoping that SRA can maintain the prices.
If there is a need to import, we’re not against that, but not to the extent it will bring down the price of sugar, the governor said.
The farm gate price of a 50-kilo bag is now pegged at more than P3,000.
The SRA issued Sugar Order No. 7 allowing importation of 150,000 metric tons of refined sugar, in anticipation of further reduction of sugar production volume for Crop Year 2022 2023, due to early start and early end of milling season.
The National Federation of Sugarcane Producers called on the SRA will be judicious enough to release the additional imported sugar in a calibrated manner, in such volumes that will answer the gap in production, so that mill gate prices at the start of milling will not be adversely affected by the latest sugar importation.*
