Sugar and ethanol producer Roxas Holdings Inc. (RHI) reduced its net loss for the six months ending March to P496 million from P574 million a year ago as its top line more than doubled during the period.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, RHI said first-half revenues grew by 75.3 percent to P3.3 billion from P1.9 billion.
Pedro Roxas, chair of RHI said, “while the Group’s revenues were higher last year, these gains were adversely affected by the contracted milling operations in Central Azucarera Don Pedro, Inc. (Cadpi) resulting in lower [number of] canes milled, and the significantly higher fuel costs for the refinery operations.”
With regard to San Carlos Bioenergy, Inc., ethanol production is larger versus the previous year as operations started earlier.
Cadpi’s operations were significantly hampered by the decline in the supply of sugarcanes, particularly in the Batangas area, after Typhoon “Odette” (international name: Rai) ravaged many parts of the Visayas and Mindanao.
The agriculture sector incurred more than P13 billion in losses due to Odette, with the sugarcane sector accounting for 8.6 percent or P1.15 billion of the total damage.
“Included in the hardest hit areas were the Calabarzon and Western Visayas regions where the RHI Group operates,” the firm said.