17 November 2024
SUGAR producers said the supply of refined and raw sugar will be sufficient even after the government announced an import freeze until the middle of 2025.
“We do have sufficient supply of sugar — raw and refined — despite the drop in production,” United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines President Manuel R. Lamata said via Viber.
Last week, the Department of Agriculture and the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said they intend to postpone refined sugar imports.
The SRA has said that raw sugar production during the current crop year would decline by 7.2% from a year earlier due to crop damage sustained during the dry conditions brought about by El Niño.
Mr. Lamata added he sees the need to import sugar by October 2025.
The Sugar Council and the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines have noted however that mill gate prices for raw sugar have declined.
“An apparent decrease in demand has consequently caused the steady drop in prices,” the groups said in a joint statement.
They added that a considerable amount of raw sugar is being withdrawn for refining, despite the stable supply of refined sugar.
“It makes no business sense for refineries to withdraw raw sugar. Hence, demand for it goes down and mill gate prices drop,” they added.
According to the SRA, raw sugar stocks hit 148,255 metric tons (MT), while those of refined sugar amounted to 323,923 MT as of Oct. 20.
The Sugar Council said that the drop in demand may have also been due to the increasing use of artificial sweeteners by the beverage industry.
Earlier, SRA said that it would look into the actual volumes of other sweeteners and, if warranted, require them to obtain clearances as well.
In September, the regulator had raised the clearance fee for High Fructose Corn Syrup to P30 per equivalent bag of sugar from P1.5 per bag.
Under tariff code 17.02 of the ASEAN Harmonized Tariff Nomenclature, only high fructose corn syrup is regulated. Artificial sweeteners are admitted at zero tariff under the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement.