SUGAR PRODUCTION at the second week of June rose 0.63% year-on-year, the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said.
As of the second week, the SRA reported that sugar production was 2.068 million metric tons (MMT), up from 2.055 MMT a year earlier. This is equivalent to 41.36 million 50-kilo bags, compared with 41.097 million a year earlier.
The crop year for sugar starts in September and ends in August.
Demand for raw sugar declined 17.77% to 1.65 MMT.
Total sugarcane milled decreased 7.65% year-on-year to 21.7 MMT.
Refined sugar output fell 7.73% year-on-year to 784,606.8 MT.
The millgate price fell 24.87% to P1,476.21 per 50-kilo bag. The retail price was stable at P45 to P50 per kilo, but fell year-on-year from a range of P52 to P59.
Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III has said that the government is looking into liberalizing sugar imports because prices are uncompetitive. He said that domestic prices are double the world market price, weighing on the competitiveness of the food processing industry.
Asked for comment, University of the Philippines School of Economics Professor Ramon L. Clarete said that the liberalization should be pushed so that the food industry can develop.
“There are two iconic monuments of protection. One is rice, the other one is sugar, so if you really want agriculture to be moving forward this has to go,” he told BusinessWorld after an event held in Makati City on Tuesday.
“Attitudes are changing because, clearly, some of the people in Negros are looking at the downstream part of sugar. There is business after planting the sugar. The more people there who can understand that, I think, they will start to open up to getting the product more competitively priced,” he added.
The Confederation of Sugar Producers (CONFED) has said that liberalizing imports would threaten five million jobs tied to the industry.
Mr. Clarete said that it is part of the government’s job to consider this factor if it were to liberalize any industry.
“That is, I think, something we can do about if in the past, there were people who were just left behind. When the government liberalizes anything, it should look at the people who are adversely affected rather than just leave them alone because liberalization will leave scars,” he said.
SRA Board miller representative Roland B. Beltran said he hopes liberalization does not go ahead, since “The price of sugar has been stable,” he told BusinessWorld in a text message. — Vincent Mariel P. Galang
