• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP) has expressed concern on what it calls excessive sugar importation under Sugar Order No. 8 issued by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).
While they agreed to an initial importation of 150,000 metric tons, NFSP president Enrique Rojas said that more than such volume has already entered the country as of Sept. 14.
“With a huge projected stock balance and the excessive importation under Sugar Order No. 8, sugar prices will suffer in the early months of the milling season,” Rojas said in a statement.
He pointed out that under this scenario, additional importation will be suicidal to the sugar industry, noting that excessive importation has caused the decrease in sugar prices for the past crop years.
“Our federation has always called for controlled importation, particularly on the specific volume and schedule of the arrival of imported sugar, so that sugar prices will not be adversely affected,” Rojas said.
Meanwhile, the NFSP cried foul on newspaper reports, saying they deem it necessary to import due to damage caused by the red-striped soft scale insect (RSSI) on sugarcane crops.
The news report maliciously misrepresented their statement, NFSP said. | GB
