Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos called for an investigation of what she said was an “anomaly” in sugar pricing that defied logic.
Sugar prices shot up by 50 percent in the recent months despite efforts by the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to boost domestic supply by removing allocation for the world market.
But there was no shortage in local markets and unreasonable price increases were causing consumers to suspect that suppliers were manipulating prices, Marcos said in a statement.
“The latest macro supply and demand data show there is no shortage,” she said.
“The price of sugar is low in the world market. It’s only here that the price is rising even if there is a supply glut,” Marcos said.
The SRA had projected raw sugar production of 2.38 million metric tons for the 2017-2018 crop year.
“We have to look into this anomaly of pricing that can hardly be explained,” she added.