• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The sugar industry is getting a fresh start in 2025 after sugar stakeholders gathered together to lend support to the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA).
“The last time industry stakeholders were all represented in a consultative assembly was exactly a year ago and this recent gathering that shows we are united bodes well for our sugar industry,” SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said in a statement yesterday.
Azcona met with representatives from the planters group, millers and refiners, including traders, importers and exporters to discuss Sugar Order No. 2, which encourages voluntary purchase of local sugar for reclassification to reserve sugar to avail of allocation for future importation program.
This was received well by industry stakeholders, particularly the farmers group as this is expected to “stabilize prices at a level reasonably profitable to our farmers as well as to our consumers,” Azcona said.
Moreover, the sugar order provides an opportunity to anyone who has a domestic sugar trading license, thus allowing even individual farmers, farmers groups, associations and cooperatives to participate in the program, he added.
He said this program is “similar to what we implemented last year which was well received as this removes any subjectivity to the import allocation process because allocation will be performance-based.”
As such, “those who support and purchase more from our local farmers will be given a bigger allocation in our future import programs,” Azcona explained.
“This coming together, shows we are off to a good start this year and both the DA and the SRA hope that this enthusiasm from our industry stakeholders will continue,” he added.
Present during the assembly on Jan. 21 at the SRA office in Bacolod City were representatives from the Philippine Sugar Millers Association, the Philippine Association of Sugar Refiners Inc., and other the big sugar federations.
The Sugar Council earlier issued a statement praising Azcona for coming up with the program which benefits sugar farmers and for conducting a consultation with all industry stakeholders before finalizing the sugar order for the said program.
“We laud Administrator Azcona for crafting a program which will protect us from price fluctuations during the peak of the harvest, for discussing with all stakeholders the proposed program, and for reiterating there will be no importation until May or June when the harvest is finished,” the Sugar Council said. | GB
