PH logs first ever sugar exports to China

The Philippines is exporting $8 million worth of sugar to China after some local local investors were able to get an allocation from the latter in what seemed to be a result of the warming relationship between Manila and Beijing.

In an interview with the Inquirer, newly appointed Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) chief Hermenegildo Serafica said this was the first time that the Philippines was exporting sugar to the world’s second-biggest economy.

Records from the SRA showed local investors exported 10,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar ($3.2 million) to China last month while the second shipment of 14,834 MT valued at $4.89 million was set to arrive in China this week.

“This time around, maybe China thought their domestic consumption will increase and it would have been cheaper for them to import from the Philippines. Some of our exporters had this edge of being closer to China so they were able to get a slice of the pie,” Serafica said. “That is a good concession for us.”

At present, majority of the country’s sugar exports go to the United States under a tariff-rate quota scheme. Under the agreement, the Philippines is given an annual allocation of 136,201 MT to the US market at a premium price and a relatively low tariff.

For this year, an additional quota of 54,000 MT was granted to the Philippines as demand in the US continued to rise.

The sugarcane industry earlier expressed its interest to look for more stable markets outside the US and China was being looked at as a huge prospect given its high usage and imports of sugar.

Asked whether a formal trade agreement between the Philippines and China was in the pipeline, Serafica said there was none, although he said he remained hopeful.

Latest sugar output for the crop year 2016-2017 has been rosy for stakeholders as yield for the period reached 2.5 million MT—the highest for the industry in 34 years.