August 22, 2024
Malaya - https://malaya.com.ph/news_business/psma-amenable-to-2-wk-delay-in-sugar-milling/?amp
Sugar millers are amenable to the proposal of the government to delay the start of milling season for crop year 2024-2025 to allow sugarcane with better maturity.
The Philippine Sugar Millers Association Inc. (PSMA) acknowledges the potential benefits of delaying milling to allow for better cane maturity and possibly higher yields, particularly in light of El Niño and said it encourage members to abide by the Sugar Regulatory Administration’s (SRA) calls
SRA wants to start the milling season for crop year 2024-2025 on October 1, , a two-week delay from the planned start date of September 15 set by some mills in Negros.
“While the association does not have the authority to change the start date, it will encourage mills to consider the delay,” PSMA said, in a statement.
The group also expressed support to SRA’s plan to allocate all sugar produced for crop year 2024-2025 for domestic consumption due to the expected negative effects of El Niño to sugar production for the upcoming crop year.
PSMA said “if it is later determined the crop yield is better than initially projected,” the group “will coordinate efforts to implement programs aimed at accessing the available US market.”
PSMA’s current membership consists of 16 mills representing 78 percent of the total Philippine sugar production, the group’s website showed.
Meanwhile, six major sugar groups led by former Bukidnon representative Manuel Antonio Zubiri formed a new sugar federation called the Mindanao Federation of Sugarcane Planters Inc.
“We are the last frontier of the sugar industry and we will expand sugar farms in Mindanao until we can bridge the gap in local sugar demand needed for our country to stop importing and be self-sustainable,” Zubiri said, in a statement.
SRA said last year, Mindanao areas increased land area planted to sugar by about 4,000 hectares (ha).
Zubiri said Mindanao has 79,000 ha planted to sugar of which 59,000 ha are in Bukidnon.
Zubiri said the Mindanao Federation comprises more than 50 percent of sugar producers in Mindanao. Lanao and Davao stakeholders are also set to affiliate with the group.
Zubiri said Mindanao sugar farmers contribute about 17 percent to total sugar production.
SRA said it will establish a satellite office in Bukidnon to bring the agency’s services closer to farmers as well as a Mindanao Research Center to handle high yielding variety programs in the region.