June 22, 2016
Butch Bacaoco (Negros Daily Bulletin) | http://goo.gl/EgwTKT
The Sugar Regulatory Administration reports a 3.88% (89,865 MT) drop in the country’s raw sugar production, from about 2.31 million MT in Week Ending June 7, 2015 to 2.22 million MT as of WE June 5, 2016.
To date, only Option MPC is still milling and will continue to do so until the end of next month. Among the last to cease operations are Bogo-Medellin in Cebu and Lopez Sugar Central which both stopped milling on June 19, Hawaiian-Philippine Co or HPCo (June 12), Sagay (June 10) and Vicmico (June 5).
Negros, the biggest producer at 1.34 million MT or 60% of total output, posted the biggest decrease at 75,311 MT, followed by Mindanao (42,689 MT) and Luzon (13,256 MT). Mindanao is the second largest producer at 418,509 MT, representing about 19% of national production.
Only Panay and Eastern Visayas registered modest increases of 19,017 MT and 22,374 MT. Apparently, Leyte’s cane fields have recovered from the ravages of Yolanda almost three years ago, with Hisumco registering a 19,651 MT surge in output as of WE June 5, 2016 compared to only 13,171 MT as of WE June 7, 2015.
Of the 12 mills in Negros, Vicmico posted the biggest drop at 41,369 MT, followed by Sagay (16,864 MT), Biscom (12,369 MT) and Bais (9,112 MT). Only HPCo and Tolong posted increases of 19,279 MT and 8,583 MT, respectively.
Raw and refined sugar withdrawals also registered double-digit drops. Raw withdrawals decreased by 15.46% (excluding transfers to the refinery), from 2 million MT as of WE June 7, 2015 to 1.7 million as of WE June 5, 2016. On the other hand, refined withdrawals dropped 14.2%, from 16.3 million bags in June 7, 2015 to 14 million bags as of June 5, 2016.
Refined sugar production decreased by 9.35%, from 20.4 million bags in June 7, 2015 to 18.5 million bags as of June 5, 2016.
Negros again posted the biggest drop of 1.7 million bags, from 14.4 million bags in June 7, 2015 to 12.7 million bags in June 5, 2016. Of the six refineries in the island, only First Farmers registered a net increase of 59,762 bags.
Mindanao refined sugar production dropped by 570,060 bags, while Luzon and Eastern Visayas raw sugar production increased by 299,141 bags and 65,430 bags, respectively.
Total ton canes milled decreased by 175,758 MT, from 23.26 million MT in June 7, 2015 to 23 million MT as of June 5, 2016.
Sugar yield per ton cane also slightly decreased from 1.98 LKg/TC to 1.94 LKg/TC.
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