https://malaya.com.ph/business/corporate/govt-urged-to-directly-purchase-sugar/
2 December 2024
THE United Sugar Producers Federation (Unifed) urged government to purchase sugar and then sell them to the public.
The group said this will eliminate the middlemen in the sugar trade and halt the downtrend in sugar mill prices.
Manuel Lamata, Unifed president, said some traders resort to artificial pricing to rake in huge profit at the expense of sugar farmers and consumers.
Lamata said prices at retail have not reflected the downward trend in mill prices and could possibly go up as demand picks up during the holidays.
“We need the DA and SRA’s (Sugar Regulatory Administration’s) intervention to prop. up sugar prices at a comfortable level to prevent further losses especially now when there is also the issue of sugar purity that has gone down due to the long drought,” Lamata said.
Lamata declined to state what the comfortable level should be but said last week alone, mill prices dropped by an average of P100 per 50-kilogram bag LKG.
SRA mill site monitoring showed composite price of raw sugar as of November 3 was at P2,698.82 per LKG.
Unifed said mill prices averaged at P2,500 per LKG of sugar last Thursday.
“I am also rallying the farmers to hold on to their sugar until prices stabilize,” Lamata said, adding that while he knows this is easier said than done especially for small farmers who are dependent on their weekly trade “we may all need to tighten our belts so we will not be abused by these unscrupulous traders.”
The group said since the start of the milling season, prices have been erratic contrary to the supply and demand figures.
“We fear that this continued downtrend will have a severe impact on our small farmers which comprise more than 80 percent of the industry producers who are looking forward to a better holiday season especially with the increase in production inputs due to the long drought,” Lamata added.
Based on DA’s monitoring of public markets in the National Capital Region, prevailing retail price as of last Wednesday ranged from P74 to P90 per kg for refined sugar, P67 to P85 per kg for washed sugar and P65 to P85 per kg for brown sugar.