• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson called on the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) and sugar planters federations Jan. 2 to set aside their differences, and start working together to address the continuing drop in the prices of sugar.
Fifth District Rep. Emilio Bernardino Yulo has called for an investigation on the reduction of sugar millgate prices as he raised the potential of price manipulation.
SRA had earlier expressed its support to the probe being sought by Yulo.
“Despite the low supply and the steady demand for sugar, the industry faces low and declining sugar millgate prices,” the lawmaker said. “This defies any logical explanation and contradicts the fundamental principle of supply and demand.”
Lacson said that if this continues, it will affect the economy of Negros Occidental, noting also that majority of the planters cannot understand why this is happening.
The United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines claimed that traders are manipulating sugar prices by keeping the supply they bought for a low price to increase its cost.
The Sugar Council, composed of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters, Confederation of Sugar Producers Association Inc., and the Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers, as well as the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines, also asked for an explanation from the SRA why sugar prices have been on a downward trend.
The SRA rejected claims of oversupply of sugar, which has been blamed for the decline in millgate prices.
“I am hoping for the players from each sugar federation to sit down, set aside differences, and try to solve the problem on very low prices of sugar,” Lacson said. | GB
