September 29, 2025
https://businessmirror.com.ph/2025/09/29/rethink-plan-to-ban-imported-molasses-group-tells-sra/
The plan of the government to impose temporary ban on molasses imports could put pressure on prices of animal feeds, according to the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI).
PCAFI made the pronouncement after the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said it may impose a temporary ban on molasses imports to stabilize domestic supply given the buildup in local inventories and the recent spike in imports.
Danilo Fausto, PCAFI president, said the sugar sector continues to grapple with challenges like climate change, fragmented land, lack of irrigation, farm mechanization, and poor planting materials.
“Thus, the government should calibrate very well between helping the sugar farmers increase their income via import ban versus the interest of livestock producers and retail consumers,” Fausto told the BusinessMirror.
Meanwhile, economists said the temporary ban would not cause an uptick in prices of gasoline, which should contain a bioethanol blend. They cautioned, however, that such a measure should be brief, since a prolonged import freeze could raise pump prices.
Locally produced bioethanol, which is blended into gasoline fuel, mostly uses sugarcane molasses as a feedstock.
University of Asia and the Pacific Center for Food and Agribusiness (CFA) Executive Director Marie Annette Galvez-Dacul said gasoline prices would only increase should the government extend the moratorium on molasses shipments or the domestic stockpile dwindle.
“The planned temporary molasses import ban is unlikely to affect gasoline prices in the short term, unless it is extended or local supplies tighten,” Dacul told this newspaper. “Gasoline prices will still be driven mainly by global oil costs and the peso.”
This was seconded by Roehlano Briones, a senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).
“No effect [on gasoline prices], companies just draw down inventory. But it should not last too long, otherwise it could raise price unless imports of ethanol are allowed,” Briones told the BusinessMirror.
Under current rules, the National Biofuels Board (NBB) allows fuel ethanol imports to meet the required 10 percent ethanol blend (E10) and optional E20 blend due to insufficient feedstock.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that ethanol imports jumped by 31 percent in the first semester to 293,039 metric tons (MT) from 224,386 MT in the same period last year.
SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona told this newspaper that the agency will release an order on the import freeze before the start of the milling season on September 29 to prevent a supply glut.
He said sugar mills run the risk of losing storage space during the milling season, given their full molasses inventories.
Molasses production rose by 20 percent year-on-year to 1.18 million metric tons (MMT) in the current crop year on the back of an unexpected surge in sugarcane harvest and a drop in yield.
Azcona also floated the possibility of regulating molasses imports to stabilize millsite price, which plunged by 35 percent to P12,000 per metric ton (MT) from P18,449 per MT last year, based on SRA data.
Figures from the SRA indicated that bioethanol prices inched up by 4 percent as it averaged P85.23 per liter last month, from P81.95 per liter in the same period last year.