LISTED sugar miller Central Azucarera de Tarlac posted a 76% fall in net income to P85.10 million for its fiscal year ending in June due to lower sugar prices and weaker consumer demand as a result of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
In a stock exchange disclosure on Thursday, the sugar company said its net income is lower compared with P353.92 million it posted in 2019.
The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) fell 47.2% to P308.60 million.
Revenues of Central Azucarera de Tarlac fell 5.4% year on year to P1.53 billion against P1.61 billion in the previous year as a result of lower volume of raw sugar used for refining.
“While the sugar composite price softened at the current reporting year at P1,517 from last year’s P1,559, additional volume of raw sugar bags was sold due to the higher tons cane milled, thus net increasing the sugar sales by P52.6 million or 12%,” the disclosure said.
“Refinery operations observed a reduction of P76.0M in revenues or 31% as the company concluded not to import raw sugar for tolling this reporting year,” it added.
Meanwhile, the company’s operating expenses fell 8.7% year on year to P141.88 million due to declines in transportation and travel costs and lower taxes and licenses as a result of a one-time tax settlement in 2019.
Moving forward, Central Azucarera de Tarlac cited estimates from the International Sugar Organization as of August 2020, which projected that global sugar output will reach 173.5 million tons for crop year 2020-2021.
Locally, the company cited the projection by the Sugar Regulatory Administration that pegged sugar production to reach 2.29 million tons for the next crop year.
“The continued lobbying by the government’s economic managers to liberalize the importation of sugar with the purpose of lowering the price of the commodity in the local market remains a threat to industry,” the disclosure said.
On Thursday, shares in Central Azucarera de Tarlac ended unchanged at P11.20 apiece. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
