A port worker examines a shipment of sugar. (File photo from the Facebook page of the Bureau of Customs)
MANILA, Philippines — With only 11 of the country’s 24 sugar mills still operating, the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said the country would still have to import sugar, but only enough to meet the projected supply deficit, according to the industry’s chief regulator Pablo Luis Azcona.
He said the country’s sugar mills would wind up their operations by end-May because they started milling early to meet the supply crunch last year.
However, the agency expects to allow the importation of a maximum of 150,000 metric tons (MT) to be divided among 35 to 40 importers.
The SRA, Azcona said, “is now in the process of collating figures from sugar mills to determine the actual volume of sugar that needs to be procured from outside by the end of this month.”
“This will include already the additional buffer volume of 100,000 metric tons, especially if we consider delaying the opening of mills to September 2023 instead of August to increase productivity,” he added.
The SRA’s latest estimates pegged the local output at 1.76 million MT and about 20,000 MT from remaining mills that are still operating will be added to the figure. Still, the volume is way below the projected demand of 2.2 million MT.
Azcona told reporters the arrival of additional sugar, expected to arrive before the harvest season begins, would reduce prices to P80 to P90 per kilogram.
As of Wednesday refined sugar retails from P86 to P110 per kg, higher than P70 per kg a year ago, based on the Department of Agriculture’s price monitoring of Metro Manila markets.
“Needless to say, we will soon be conducting consultations with various stakeholders on what we can do in preparation for the next milling season to improve productivity toward self-sufficiency, and again, we may strongly consider delaying the opening of the milling season as part of the solution,” Azcona said.