PH importing sugar in Sept to plug supply gap

MANILA, Philippines — The government intends to bring in 200,000 metric tons (MT) of imported refined sugar by September this year to stabilize retail prices and domestic supply, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. told reporters on Wednesday night the matter of importation has been on the table for six months. He said it would be timed to fill the gap before local harvest and refining.

“That is the deficit we are seeing. We expect current stocks to decline by August or September, so we need to plug the supply gap by importing 200,000 metric tons of refined sugar by September or October,” he added.

He said the DA and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) would flesh out the details in early July.

Asked for additional information, the SRA said any importation plan would be activated if the “trigger point” is reached, or if the buffer stock is less than three months’ worth of supply.

‘Trigger’

“As we said previously, we will activate an import plan should the trigger stock level be reached to ensure a stable supply and stable price for our retail and industrial consumers, as well as to ensure that our farmers will not be affected,” SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said in a statement on Thursday.

READ: Council calls for ‘calibrated’ sugar importation

Azcona said if the government would initiate an importation, it would be governed by Sugar Order No. 2, which allows traders to purchase local raw sugar at premium prices in exchange for guaranteed allocations in future importation rounds.

The said order aims to ensure sufficient supply while ensuring stable farm-gate prices and reasonable and fair retail prices.

The United Sugar Producers Federation (Unifed) expressed its support for the planned importation, saying the El Niño phenomenon delayed the beginning of the harvest season.

“This will fill in the shortage before harvest season starts in September. Harvest this coming crop year will be delayed due to El Niño and when we were consulted about this matter, we approved the proposal,” Unifed president Manuel Lamata said.

Last resort and absolutely necessary

In a separate statement, the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters said any plan to purchase imported sugar “should only be the last resort” and “only when absolutely necessary.”

READ:

MANILA, Philippines — A coalition of sugarcane producers said the Philippines may need to bring in imported sugar to keep prices of the sweetener in check before another planting season begins.

The Sugar Council—a coalition of Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations Inc., National Federation of Sugarcane Planters Inc., and Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers Inc.—said the country would need a “calibrated” importation program to ensure stable prices at the retail level.

“While the Sugar Council admits that sugar importation is needed to maintain the stability of retail prices during off-milling season, a calibrated and transparent importation program must be in place to ensure that locally produced sugar is not prejudiced,” they said in a statement on Wednesday.

READ: Regulator mulls over sugar importation

“We need to verify the actual sugar stocks, including the remaining volume of the previous importations and the projected production at the start of the next milling season, before we finalize the actual volume and authorize any importation,” the group said.

Data from the SRA showed local raw sugar production totaled 1.92 million MT as of June 9, up by 7.04 percent from 1.79 million MT in the same period a year ago. Demand for raw sugar dropped by 2.98 percent to 1.49 million MT from 1.54 million MT previously.

Refined sugar retailed from P74 per kilo to P92 per kilo as of Wednesday, lower than the P86 per kilo to P110 per kilo a year prior, based on the DA’s price monitoring of markets in Metro Manila.