• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The recent declaration of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) that there would be no sugar importation until the end of the harvest next year has failed to arrest the drop in millgate sugar prices.
This is according to the joint statement issued by the Sugar Council and the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry (Nacusip), wherein they noted a continuing drop in sugar prices for three consecutive weeks now.
Both the DA and the SRA announced that the government will not pursue importation until the middle of next year due to a steady domestic supply of both raw and refined sugar.
In the joint statement, the Sugar Council, composed of three sugar federations, including the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters, Confederation of Sugar Producers Association Inc., and Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers Inc., and the Nacusip said such statement of the two government agencies was apparently meant to allay fears that more importation would cause further decrease in sugar prices.
However, they said that the DA and the SRA failed to explain why sugar prices have steadily dropped over the past few weeks.
The Sugar Council and the Nacusip noted a drop of sugar prices at the Hawaiian-Philippine Company from P2,980.88 per bag from Oct. 20, to P2,815.99 per bag to Nov. 10, with a price drop of P164.89 per bag in only three weeks.
In other mills, sugar prices went down to much lower rates as early as Nov. 3, the two groups pointed out.
“An apparent decrease in demand has consequently caused the steady drop in prices,” the Sugar Council and the Nacusip said, stressing that this is a concern which SRA should address as it reiterated worry over current oversupply of imported and locally-produced sugar relative to demand in the market.
In a report of the SRA Supply-Demand Situation Report dated Oct. 20 this year, of the 240,000 metric tons (MT) imported refined sugar authorized by Sugar Order No. 5 signed on Aug. 8, only 135,833.20MT have entered the market.
The Sugar Council and the Nacusip noted that millgate prices are trending down, with a balance of 104,167MT.
The same SRA report showed that as of Oct. 20, withdrawals for raw sugar dropped by 18.38 percent while refined sugar withdrawals decreased by 20.18 percent, compared to the same period last crop year, they added. | GB
