20 November 2024
The Sugar Council and National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry (NACUSIP) expressed concern over the drop in sugar millgate prices, which they attributed to a supply glut.
However, Sugar Regulatory Authority (SRA) Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said raw and refined sugar levels are 35 to 37 percent below the levels recorded last year.
“The SRA and the DA [Department of Agriculture] believe that these are the proper levels and claims of oversupply when our sugar stock levels have been constant the past 2 months are completely false,” Azcona told the BusinessMirror on Monday.
In a joint statement, the Sugar Council and NACUSIP claimed that the SRA and DA’s recent announcement of delaying the importation of sugar until May 2025 failed to explain the reason behind the drop in sugar prices over the past few weeks.
“An apparent decrease in demand has consequently caused the steady drop in prices,” the Sugar Council said.
The council stressed that the SRA should address this concern, reiterating its worry over “current oversupply of imported and locally produced sugar, relative to demand, in the market.”
They also noted the 98-percent decline in refined sugar production to 1,314 metric tons (MT) as of October 20 from 58,990 MT in the same period last year, based on SRA data.
“It should be noted that a considerable amount of locally produced raw sugar is withdrawn for refining, but if there is more than enough supply of imported refined sugar, it makes no business sense for refineries to withdraw raw sugar. Hence, demand for it goes down and mill gate prices drop.”
Figures from the SRA showed that 135,833.20 MT of the 240,000 MT imported refined sugar authorized under Sugar Order (SO) 5 have entered the country.
“If the ‘no further importation’ pronouncement aims to arrest the drop in mill gate sugar prices over the past weeks, the fundamentals to firm up prices are woefully absent,” the council said.
For his part, Azcona said the decision that there would be no sugar imports until the end of harvest next year was an “honest” announcement made by the agency and the DA to inform the stakeholders of the government’s plans.
“Their opinion that it was meant to curb prices is as it is, their own opinion based on their perception.”
Azcona also added that all of the agency’s plans are discussed in stakeholder meetings, the last of which was on August 6 attended by Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. The council, he said, did not attend the meeting.
“The SRA and the DA believe that the council should attend stakeholders’ consultative meetings so that they would be informed of the plans and policies of the sugar industry.”