MANILA, Philippines—It looks like it will be a sweet year for the sugar industry.
The Philippines will export sugar again as the country is enjoying a bumper harvest this year, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said.
The country’s sugarcane fields yielded a harvest of 2.39 million metric tons for the crop year of 2010-2011, a 21.3 percent improvement over last year’s volume, the DA said.
Because of the bumper harvest, which was a result of good weather in the canefields, the country is poised to export at least 300,000 metric tons of raw and refined sugar this year, Alcala said. He noted that the Philippines may cease to import sugar in the future
“We have been making great strides in sugar production the past year. This may very well be the start of the country producing more than enough to meet its domestic requirements and quota obligations, but also to ensure that sugar farmers have a reasonable, sufficient, and ‘livable’ income,” Alcala said.
The agriculture department, he said, is eyeing to sell sugar in Southeast Asia. Recently, countries like Indonesia, China, South Korea and Japan said they would buy sugar from the Philippines. The Philippines also exports sugar to the United States under a preferential treatment scheme.
Sugar used to be a major export crop of the Philippines. The country was a net sugar exporter, selling as much as two million tons of sugar in the 1970s, according to data from the Philippine Sugar Millers Association. However, production and exports declined in the following decades due to low mechanization and the monopolization of the industry during the Marcos era.
The 300,000-ton export volume eyed by the Department of Agriculture this year is the highest volume seen since the 1990s. In the last few years, export volumes ranged between 100,000 and 200,000 tons, data from the PSMA showed.
The Philippine sugar industry’s performance mirrored the gains in other crops. Rice and corn, the two main staples of the country, also showed robust recovery in the first half of the year.
Harvests of palay or unmilled rice and corn was at 7.58 million tons and 3.31 million tons, respectively.
The crops subsector — which contributed more than half (51.8 percent) of total agricultural output — grew by 11.1 percent. Overall, the country’s agriculture sector grew by 5.48 percent in the first semester of the year
The reserve sugar harvest for export increased not only due to the high yield, but also because of reduced demand.
According to the DA, the supply of raw sugar increased five-fold to more than 623,500 tons. Sugar consumption, on the other hand, dipped to 1.5 million tons this year, from 1.8 million tons in 2009-10.
This led to a drop in raw sugar prices. According to the DA data, raw sugar fell from a high of P2,480 per 50-kilo bag to P1,300 this year.
Refined sugar demand also declined to 655,840 tons, 31 percent less than last year, leaving a balance of more than 300,000 tons.
“We look forward to build from these gains next year, as more farms are planted and program interventions continue for CY 2011-2012,” he said.
Alcala said the government aims to boost the sugarcane industry to ensure local supply and make the country attractive to bioethanol producers.
He noted that the DA wants to improve the efficiency and productivity of small farms. According to Sugar Regulatory Administration data, about half of the country’s sugarcane fields are less than five hectares.
Alcala also said the DA is planning to build better infrastructure for sugarcane planters and millers such as bigger and automated loading ports, farm-to-mill roads, and irrigation facilities.