Sugarcane output up 5.6% in Q1

MANILA, Philippines—Domestic production of sugarcane in the first quarter rose 5.6 percent year on year to 12.3 million tons as most cane-based products showed increases in volume.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show that production of centrifugal sugar, which accounts for almost the entire total volume, grew by 5 percent to 12 million tons.

The PSA attributed this growth to expanded harvest areas in Capiz, Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Bukidnon, as well as greater yield owing to greater use of fertilizer in Negros Occidental.

The fastest growing segment was sugar for ethanol production, with the volume jumping 79 percent to some 214,000 tons.

Sugar growers in Cagayan shifted to ethanol from centrifugal while new harvest areas were made available in Kalinga.

Sugarcane production for the making of basi or vinegar went up 8 percent to some 3,200 tons while that for coarse sugar or muscovado inched up 0.5 percent to some 81,400 tons.

Finally, harvest of cane sugar for chewing fell by 19 percent to 234 tons amid shrinking demand.

Earlier this month, the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said local sugar producers are on pace to hit the current crop year’s output goal of about 2.36 million tons.

SRA administrator Regina Martin said the target appeared achievable even after major sugar-producing areas felt the effects of devastation from Super Typhoon Yolanda last November.

The SRA chief said that as of the end of April, domestic production was at about 2.34 million tons.

For the current crop year that ends in August, domestic sugar consumption is projected at a range of 2.14 million to 2.18 million tons.

In the immediate aftermath of Yolanda in November last year, Martin said the monster storm gobbled up between 50,000 metric tons to 120,000 MT of sugar in the Visayas.

She said the entire Visayas region accounts for 266,000 of sugar farmland, which is more than half of the nationwide total.