Sugar output rose by 5.1% in first half

A WORKER stirs heated sugarcane juice at the Raw Brown Sugar Milling Co. Inc. FILE PHOTO

Domestic production of sugarcane in the first semester increased by 5.1 percent year-on-year to 15.5 million as volumes rose.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, production of centrifugal sugar, which accounted for 97 percent of total volume, grew by 4.4 percent to 15 million tons.

The PSA attributed this growth to the efficient use of fertilizer in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, as well as the increase in harvest areas in Capiz, Iloilo, Cebu and Bukidnon.

The fastest growing segment remained sugar for ethanol production, with the volume jumping by 52 percent to about 324,000 tons.

Harvesting in farms under leasehold agreement peaked during the semester. Also, 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 4,731 tons while that for coarse sugar, or muscovado, improved by 2 percent to 132,207 tons.

Harvest of cane sugar for chewing continued to be depressed, falling by 14 percent to 464 tons amid shrinking demand.

Last week, regulators said the Philippine sugar industry is looking at a 6-percent increase in domestic output, with a goal of 2.5 million tons in the 2014-2015 crop year that ends next August.

The estimated output for the crop year that is ending this month was originally set at 2.45 million tons. This means that the projection for the following year may represent an increase of 2 percent.