Sugar farmers welcome probe on sugar price slump

MANILA  -A group of sugarcane farmers said they support the probe announced by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) on the low farm-gate prices of the sweetener.

“We look forward to a comprehensive and expeditious probe and we eagerly await its results,” the Sugar Council, which represents sugarcane farmers belonging to three planters federations, said in a statement.  The group said the investigation would focus on why farmgate sugar prices have been lower than the P3,000 per 50-kilo bag expected by the industry.

SRA Administrator Paul Azcona said the regulator would investigate what could have caused the depressed prices when the first two biddings of this milling season yielded prices between P2,500 and P2,750 per bag.

Azcona said the probe would cover the mills, traders and importers to find any abnormality in their dealings. “But rest assured that we will get to the bottom of this,” he said.

Sugar Council said farmgate sugar prices last week ranged from P2,501 to P2,760 per bag which, the group explained, were way lower than the P3,000-per bag that sugarcane farmers expected.

The group added that the farm-gate price of P2,760 per 50-kilo bag translated to only P55.20 per kilo in the retail market. But in reality, actual retail prices of sugar still range from P80 to P100 per kilo.

To help arrest the drop in farmgate prices, SRA released on Oct. 12 Board Resolution No. 2023-159 (dated Sept. 26) “to hold in abeyance all applications of conversion and maintain the classification of all imported sugar as reserved.” INQ