DTI backs industry group’s appeal to import sugar

The trade chief has backed the call of confectionary producers to import sugar, an important ingredient that the industry group said now cost 200 percent more locally than when bought abroad.

Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez said that allowing the local confectionary industry to import sugar was only “fair,” given that the local players have already been sourcing from the domestic sugar supply.

This developed as the Philippine Confectionery Biscuits and Snack Association (PCBSA) wrote Lopez a letter late last month, airing the problems faced by the 18-member group.

Its members are currently not allowed to import sugar, which was due to “too much protection being given by the government to the local sugar industry,” PCBSA president Kissinger Sy said in his letter to Lopez.

Sy said that the “prohibitive” price of domestic sugar would make locally produced confectionary items uncompetitive against their imported counterparts, which have grown their market share in the Philippines through the years.

Lopez said that PCBSA should be allowed to import. “World market prices are much lower and it is fair to allow importation to serve the supply requirements of the sugar users,” he added.

According to Sy, imported confectionary products like candies accounted for 30 percent of the market last year, up from just 5 percent in 2010—a gradual increase that showed the share of such imported goods “eating into the local confectionary market.”

However, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is not the only government agency that the group should appeal to, according to Jesus Lim Arranza, chair of the Federation of Philippine Industries, who was also given a copy of PCBSA’s letter to DTI.

Arranza suggested that Lopez should call a meeting with stakeholders, including the Sugar Regulatory Administration and sugar millers, to find a win-win formula, he told the Inquirer, noting that the PCBSA could use local sugar while still balancing it with imports.

Sy could not be reached for comment as of press time. However, in his letter, he has suggested three conditions as an interim measure for sugar imports.

First, the importation should be used only for the manufacturing requirements of PCBSA member companies, which comprise most of the industry. Second, he said that member firms should not be allowed to sell imported sugar or act as traders. Lastly, he said that the importation should be on a one-time basis for this calendar year, wherein the government, in consultation with PCBSA, could set an aggregate limit.