- BERT BAYORAN
The Sugar Regulatory Administration is expected to release next week Sugar Order Number 1 that recommends for an ‘all-B’ sugar allocation, or domestic sugar, for this crop year, and SO No. 2 that would allow the importation of 150,000 metric tons of refined sugar, SRA acting administrator David John Thaddeus Alba said Thursday.
Alba said there will be no allocation for the United States this time, stressing that the US quota will be met again as soon as they are able to stabilize the domestic sugar demand or need.
Five percent of the sugar production in the country is being allocated as US quota, Alba said.
He said they cannot comply with the US quota right now due to the critical situation of the sugar industry.
SO No. 1 recommends an all-B sugar allocation for this crop year, pending thorough consultation with all stakeholders, after which, all inputs will be submitted to the Palace for the approval of President Ferdinand Macros Jr., Alba said.
“We cannot also do away with the talk of importation as the industry cannot meet the market demand, as yet. Upon the recommendation made during the sugar stakeholders’ meeting with the President, we will work on the importation order of 150,000 metric tons of purely refined sugar as a balancing act to stabilize market prices and this is what will be enshrined in SO2,” Alba said.
He stressed that this will go through further deliberations, and for them to draw up the mechanics equitable to all players, before submitting the proposal to Malacañang for approval.
“Our target is to have the SO2 released by mid-September so the (refined sugar) arrival will not interfere with the resumption of operations by our sugar refineries that normally start mid-November,” Alba said.
The 150,000MT of imported refined sugar is expected to arrive by middle of November this year, he added.
The country’s sugar need is pegged at 2.5 million metric tons, which Alba said, had been done and even surpassed in crop year 2016-2017.
He blamed the decreasing sugar production in the past few years to various factors, including climate change, high inputs prices and the COVID-19 pandemic, that drove up production cost.
Alba said the SRA Board believes that 2.5 million metric tons is achievable, “if we focus on farm productivity and ensure the efficiency of our mills for higher recovery.”
He added that there are doable remedies, such as implementing a good drainage plan in the farms, and maximizing resources to invest in research and development, technology and mechanization.
This year, the SIDA funding was further cut down to a fourth, from its original P2-billion allocation, or at only P500-million, and SRA had been accused of under-utilizing the SIDA Fund.
Alba said that with proper programming and with the support of Marcos and his allies in both houses of Congress, “we will ask help to circumvent the red tape and go full blast in utilizing the SIDA Fund by next year to make us globally competitive.”/GB
