• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
With millgate prices of sugar remaining almost at par to its production cost, the sugar industry is facing a “double whammy”, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said on Monday, Jan. 5.
“Not only sugar prices are down, but also its production,” he stressed.
The governor said some sugar planters have already accepted the fact that “we will have to bite the bullet already”.
Sugar millgate prices have been ranging from P2,100 to P2,200 per 50-kg bag since late last year.
Sugar industry stakeholders, including farmers and millers, are urgently seeking the intervention of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to address plummeting sugar prices, which have fallen below production costs due to oversupply, alleged poor policies of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), among other factors.
“We are hoping that if it really hits us, it only hits us this year, and not to continue on the following crop years,” Lacson said.
The governor said he is still waiting if there is a solution to low prices of sugar, following the resumption of milling season this week.
“We will see, if there is any improvement in the sugar prices,” he added.
Stakeholders are also calling on Marcos to declare a “no sugar import policy” for the next 18 months, unless domestic stocks fall below a critical threshold and to strictly limit any imports to raw sugar for refining.
In a letter dated Dec. 19 addressed to the President through the Sugar Board, they said the sugar industry is under acute stress due to drop in millgate prices and molasses amid excessive inventories, weak demand, rising production costs, and crop losses from adverse weather and red-striped soft scale insect infestation.
Earlier, the Department of Agriculture and the SRA extended the moratorium on sugar imports until the end of harvest or further, citing stronger domestic raw sugar production and the need to prioritize locally produced sugar. | GB
