PH mulls over sugar exports to ease glut

The Philippines is considering early sugar exports to the United States and other parts of the world to ease domestic glut, according to industry stakeholders.

Sugar production is up 395 percent year on year in the first four weeks of milling, according to industry figures.

Farmers’ federations have asked the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), through administrator Regina Bautista-Martin, to allow shipments of Philippine sugar to the United States at a much earlier date than usual, apart from tapping the world export market.

“There are no scheduled shipments yet to the US. What SRA is studying is the proposal of sugar farmers [to] export to the US earlier than usual, perhaps around December. Shipments to the US usually start January,” said Sugar Board member Jesus Leoncario Barrera, who is affiliated with the Philippine Sugar Millers Association.

Industry figures showed that the country has 40,952.80 metric tons of “A” or US quota sugar in stock, along with 55,853.24 metric tons of “D” or world market sugar ready for export.

The SRA in a statement said Martin welcomed the suggestion and referred the matter to the Sugar Board for study and consultation with different stakeholders in the industry.

Sugar milling started last September 1. More mills commenced operations early this crop year of 2012-13 compared to the previous period.

As of September 30, there are already nine mills in operation, a significant jump from the three mills that started during the crop year 2011-12. With more mills processing cane, production in the initial weeks of the crop year rose significantly.

In the first four weeks of milling, the Philippines produced 73,528.03 metric tons—an increase of 395 percent from the 14,824.39 metric tons produced in October 2011.

The early shipment of “A” and “D” sugar is a response to the growing volume of available and, therefore, weak demand for sugar.

“We can take advantage of the available stock in hand and work for their export to their destined market,” SRA said.

Last crop year, the Philippines exported more than 200,000 metric tons to the United States, and about 326,000 metric tons to other parts of the world.

US sugar imports are strictly controlled by tariff-rate quotas, or TRQs, which set the amount of sugar that can enter the country at a low or zero duty.