Sugar production up 4.6% as of January 2

January 17, 2022
Catherine Talavera (The Philippine Star) | https://bit.ly/33IKK4Z

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s sugar production continued to grow, albeit at a slower pace, rising by 4.63 percent.

According to the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), raw sugar production reached 657,352 metric tons (MT) as of Jan. 2, higher than the 628,286 MT in the same period last year.

The growth, however, is slower than the 10.11 percent increase in production in the previous week from 559,726 MT to 616,333 MT.

Output in terms of 50-kilogram bags reached 13.1 million, up from 12.6 million a year ago.

This brought the current raw sugar supply to 910,870 MT, 3.15 percent higher than the 883,046 MT recorded in the previous crop year.

The sugar crop year starts every September and ends in August.

SRA data also showed that demand for raw sugar rose by 10 percent to 559,472 MT.

Meanwhile, refined sugar production grew by 54.52 percent to 224,197.4 MT.

The total sugarcane milled increased by 2.13 percent to 7.89 million MT.

For the current crop year, the SRA estimates raw sugar production to reach 2.0997 million MT.

The SRA also allocated the entire sugar production for the current crop year for the “B” market.

It classifies sugar into “A” for sugar for export to the US, “B” for domestic consumption, “C” for reserves, “D” for export to countries other than the US and “E” for food local processors.

Raw sugar production in the 2020 to 2021 crop year reached 2.143 million MT, slightly lower than the 2.145 million MT in the previous crop year.