Rise in sugar retail prices questioned

The rising retail prices of sugar may just be “another ploy” to justify the liberalization of sugar imports.

This was the sentiment of Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) board member Emilio Yulo, who represents sugar producers at the agency’s board, following reports that refined sugar in public markets and supermarkets is now selling for more than P60 a kilogram despite low mill-gate prices.

SRA board member Roland Beltran, who represents the millers, added that given current mill-gate prices of between P1,450 and P1,500 per 50-kilogram bag, retail prices of refined sugar should not go beyond P55 a kilo.

Yulo said these high prices might just be a way to convince economic managers to open the local market to imported sugar “even if it may flood the market” with the basic commodity.

Liberalization will see the unimpeded entry of imported sugar, which is expected to depress retail prices and may even curb smuggling, but at a possible cost to the local sugar producing sector.

Last week, the Bureau of Customs intercepted in Subic 35 containers of smuggled refined sugar from Thailand worth P54 million.

According to SRA official Rondell Manjarres, the shipments were contained in 40-foot containers that were initially declared as floor mats. But industry leaders as well as a group of senators opposed the proposal to liberalize sugar imports, saying that the policy shift “contradicts the President’s thrust toward food security and will severely affect the entire agriculture sector.”