BIZ BUZZ: Supply and demand, PH style

In economics, the law of supply and demand dictates that an increase in supply will result in commensurate decline in prices, and vice versa.

But not in the local sugar industry, it seems.

According to recent data released by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), the production of sugar in the Philippines increased to 4.6 percent in the first week of January. Raw sugar production reached during this period, was higher than last year’s, according to official data.

What’s unusual, however, is that the price of raw sugar hasn’t come down despite this. In fact, it’s gone the other way substantially.

Industry insiders pointed out to Biz Buzz recently that raw sugar prices even increased by 17 percent in the last year.

Naturally, more expensive raw sugar also caused the price of refined sugar to rise, especially in Metro Manila.

So why are prices increasing when production has also increased? Has demand risen that much (industry insiders doubt it)? Has the law of supply and demand been suddenly turned on its head?

Some observers are pointing to rising prices of inputs like fertilizer as the cause, while other are pointing to the devastation caused by Typhoon “Odette” that struck the provinces of the Visayas and Mindanao last December.

And according to the Department of Agriculture (DA), the sugar cane industry sustained P1.1 billion worth of production losses after more than 50,000 hectares of the plantation was destroyed by the typhoon. Despite this, SRA still reported the increased output, coupled with the perplexing increase in raw sugar prices.

While individual consumers hardly feel the impact of this, industrial users of sugar are suffering from the challenges facing the industry. The large industrial sugar users are, in fact, scrambling for sources to meet their sugar requirements.

In response to the shortage of galunggong in the fisheries sector, the DA recently approved the importation of 60,000 MT of round scad to mitigate the impact of Odette. Perhaps it’s time that the government considers the same solution for the sugar industry before the rising prices push inflation up further, or worse, cause production shortages.

Will the government have the political will for this solution though? Abangan.

—Daxim L. Lucas

Rating more presidentiables

Philippine Business for Education-backed BET sa Balota, an advocacy to scrutinize candidates’ initiatives and platforms specific to improving the quality of education, earlier gave Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. aka BBM, presidential front-runner, a score of six out of the highest possible score of 10 on his education agenda.

Since the launch of the initiative, which evaluates candidates based on the 10-point education agenda of the Education Nation—a coalition of organizations and individuals that aims to elect leaders who will put quality education for all at the heart of the government’s development agenda—since then rated two more presidentiables.

Based on EdukNaman’s latest baseline scorecard rating, Vice President Leni Robredo got the highest score so far at nine points, while Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko” Moreno Domagoso got the lowest score of four points.

The coalition listed the pronouncements made by Robredo to promote better governance in education, improve the learning environment for all, empower teachers and schools and improve the quality of education in the country. It also enumerated the initiatives already taken by Robredo under the Office of the Vice President, such as the establishment of local community learning hubs in partnership with local governments, launch of the Angat Buhay program that gave scholarship grants, training programs and feeding programs, the TrabaHOPE to upskill out-of-school youth and the establishment of a high school dormitory in Bukidnon.

“Yorme” Isko, on the other hand, was credited for purchasing thousands of books and equipment for online learning, giving of subsidy to students, budgeting of P5 billion to build new school buildings and learning facilities and building of a 10-story new facility for Manila Science High School.

In terms of future plans, however, the list (based on Education Nation’s tracking) is shorter than either BBM or Robredo’s.

The coalition vows to track what presidential and senatorial candidates have said and done so far about education during the run-up to the May elections.

—Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

Scammers beware

Scammers beware: that mobile wallet you’re spoofing might just come after you.

This was the case with Globe Telecom’s GCash, which played an instrumental role that led to the arrest of a gang of Filipinos and Nigerians scamming unwitting victims.

They were caught selling scam pages and even created a fake GCash webpage that was used to steal sensitive data and compromise financial accounts.

The arrest made news but this would not have been possible without the cooperation of stakeholders like GCash. According to the company, it helped report detected phishing sites, respond to court subpoenas and even provided direct assistance to victims seeking to fie complaints.

For GCash, forging close ties with government investigators was critical in protecting the public as more Filipinos shift to digital finance. One of these proactive measures was continuous threat and intelligence sharing with the National Bureau of Investigation.

GCash said customers can take added steps to shield themselves from fraudsters.

“We urge our customers to be vigilant of phishing messages or suspicious calls meant to dupe them into giving away sensitive data about their GCash accounts. We will never ask for your MPIN or OTP, nor will we ask you to share it with anyone,” said GCash chief corporate communications officer Chito Maniago.

—Miguel R. Camus INQ