• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Sugar produced this crop year is expected to end higher by almost five percent at 1.837 million metric tons from the initial estimate of 1.782 million MT, Sugar Regulatory Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said on Monday (May 19).
Despite the low sugar produced per ton of cane (LkgTC), Azcona said “we are currently at 1.815 million tons of sugar produced”, attributing it on the increase in sugarcane tonnage per hectare planted.
Visayas accounts for the biggest share produced at 71 percent of the total production with Negros Island accounting for 63 percent of the total produce, Panay with 6.3 percent and the remaining coming from the Cebu and Leyte plantations.
Mindanao, which is touted to be the next frontier for the sugar industry, is estimated to end the crop year with almost 24 percent of the country’s produce and Luzon contributing almost five percent of the total production, according to the SRA statement.
Azcona said their initial estimate was quite low as “this was based on the health and assessment of the sugarcane after the extreme El Niño.”
“We are ending on a positive note and we can attribute this to the effort of this administration in helping stabilize prices since 2022,” he said, adding that “fair farm gate prices encouraged farmers to risk replanting their El Niño damaged canes, using new SRA varieties as they were hopeful that prices would eventually make up for the very high cost of production.”
In fact, “fair prices are also encouraging new farmers to plant sugarcane,” he added.
Additionally, Azcona said that their thrust to prioritize research through development and propagation of new sugarcane varieties, improving soil conditions, irrigation, and even changing the sugarcane cropping calendar to better suit the climate are now paying off.
We hope next milling we will get higher tonnage and most importantly, more sugar per ton of cane, he added.
Mindanao has the highest average LkgTC at 1.74, while Negros is averaging 1.65 and Panay and Luzon at 1.54.
URC La Carlota Sugar Mill has ended their milling season with Binalbagan-Isabela Sugar Company and URC SONEDCO expected to close this week. | GB
