• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Sugar industry stakeholders are calling on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to declare a “no sugar Import policy” for the next 18 months, unless domestic stocks fall below a critical threshold, and to strictly limit any imports to raw sugar for refining.
A letter to President Marcos Jr. through the Sugar Board, signed by Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, representatives of the Association of Chief Executives of Negros Occidental, League of Municipalities of the Philippines- Iloilo chapter, Confederation of Sugar Producers Association, National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP), Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers Incorporated, National Congress of Unions of the Sugar Industry of the Philippines, among other labor groups, said that the sugar industry is under acute stress due to the drop in millgate prices of sugar and molasses, amid excessive inventories, weak demand, rising production costs, and crop losses from adverse weather and RSSI infestation.
The letter dated December 19, coursed through the Sugar Board, further disclosed that storage facilities are now overstretched, while farmers’ incomes are deteriorating, and financial pressure on both planters and millers now threatens the sustainability of the sugar industry.
During the opening of the 2024-2025 crop year, millgate prices of sugar were averaging at P2,800 per 50-kilo (Lkg) bag.
However, average prices fell to P2,350 in October and P2,400 in November, with prices in the first two weeks of December hitting the range of P2,100 to P2,200.
To stabilize the market and restore confidence, the group stressed an urgent and decisive policy to address the problem, such as declaration of no sugar import policy for the next 18 months. If imports become necessary, it will be limited strictly to raw sugar for refining by local refiners, based on stakeholder consultation;
The exercise of SRA’s classification authority under EO No. 18 to actively manage inventory levels and stabilize prices; institutionalize the Stakeholders’ Consultative Assembly and Sugar Industry Development Council (SIDC) as formal platforms for policy formulation and development planning; activate the proposed Committee on Sugar Substitutes, in coordination with other regulators; address market distortion and public health concerns; and strengthen oversight of molasses importation.
These measures, they said, are essential to rebalance supply and demand, arrest further price erosion and provide predictability for industry stakeholders.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) have recently extended the moratorium on sugar imports until the end of harvest or further, citing stronger domestic raw sugar production and the need to prioritize locally produced sugar.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said the policy, first announced on October 15, could be extended through the end of milling season or even December, depending on actual stock levels, following last year’s improved raw sugar output.
To stabilize prices and support farmers, Tiu-Laurel said the agencies will also roll out a government buying program for raw sugar, with purchases held as buffer stock for up to 90 days.
Tiu Laurel said the decision followed months of consultations with industry leaders that failed to produce consensus, even as farmgate prices continued to fall.
In the third week of January, the Congressional Agriculture Committee is also scheduled to conduct a public consultation in response to the uproar on the continuing drop in sugar millgate prices, according to Negros Occidental 3rd District Rep. Javier Miguel Benitez.
As to the proposed 3rd Voluntary Purchase Program with preferential allocation for future sugar importation, NFSP president Enrique Rojas said in his letter to SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona, that it tacitly guarantees additional importation, will cause more harm to sugar farmers in the long run.
Regardless of how the program is phrased, it is still anchored on the premise that there will be a future importation,and that participating traders will eventually avail of preferential import allocations in the future, in the immediate term, the program might siphon off a portion of the excess sugar supply.
But in the long term, the program guarantees the entry of more imported sugar to the already overflowing domestic market, Rojas said.
Instead of the proposed voluntary program, with preferential allocation of future sugar importation, Rojas said the best course of action is direct government buying of excess sugar stocks at prices fair to sugar farmers.*
